The police and Shin Bet security service arrested two IDF reservists for alleged espionage on behalf of Iran
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in return for financial compensation, it was announced Monday.
The main suspect, Yuri Eliasfov, 21, served in the military’s Iron Dome unit and passed along highly sensitive material about the missile defense technology to his Iranian handler, police said in a statement.
The material included a video that Eliasfov filmed of the aerial defense system, according to Hebrew-language reports.
The reservist later recruited the second suspect in the case, his friend Georgi Andreyev, 21, into the espionage scheme.
The Ynet news site reported that Eliasfov received $2,500 from the Iranian agent, while Andreyev received $50.
Law enforcement officials filed a prosecutor’s statement against the two suspects on Monday, accusing them of serious security offenses including contact with a foreign agent, transferring classified information and aiding the enemy during wartime.
Their detention has been extended until Friday. Police expect prosecutors to file an indictment in the coming days against them in the Haifa District Court. Both suspects are residents of the Krayot suburbs of Haifa.
According to the Ynet news site Eliasfov initially reached out to the Iranian agent, who he found while looking for ways to make money. The two first came into contact in September, Haaretz reported.
According to the Ynet news site, Eliasfov initially spray-painted pro-Iranian graffiti and hung banners in Tel Aviv carrying the slogan "Children of Ruhollah," referring to Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader following the Islamic Revolution.
He then showed the graffiti to his friend, Andreyev, who was at the time serving in the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, and convinced him to join him as an accomplice.
Andreyev later backed out of the scheme due to fear of legal repercussions, reported Ynet.
Over the past two years, Iranian intelligence operatives have ramped up their efforts to recruit ordinary Israelis as spies in exchange for money.
Last December, the police arrested nearly 30 Israelis, mostly Jewish citizens, for espionage activities on behalf of Iran.
In most of these cases, the suspects began by carrying out small, innocuous tasks which gradually grew into more serious offenses, like intelligence gathering and liquidation plots.
In October 2024, seven Israelis were arrested for allegedly photographing and collecting information on IDF bases and facilities, including the Nevatim and Ramat David air bases, which were targeted by both Iran and Hezbollah in 2024.
Police have cautioned Israeli citizens and residents against "engaging in contact with foreign operatives and carrying out tasks for them," in a statement earlier, and vowed to take "the utmost legal action against those involved in such activities."