From hacked traffic cameras to seized phone data: Inside Israel’s years-long plan for the 60-second strike on Khamenei

How years of surveillance and covert access to Iran’s systems paved the way for the 60-second operation that killed Khamenei

The US-Israel combined strikes that reshaped political dynamics in Iran were not a matter of hours; they were preceded by years of covert penetration into Iran’s surveillance and communications networks to monitor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his inner security circle ahead of the air strike that killed him in Tehran, according to a Financial Times report.

It was the result of a meticulously coordinated, long-running intelligence campaign that brought together cyber intrusions, signals intercepts, and human assets to construct what officials described as a comprehensive “pattern of life” profile of senior Iranian leaders.

How was the attack planned for years?

• Nearly all of Tehran’s traffic cameras were allegedly compromised for years, with footage encrypted and transmitted to servers in Israel, according to people familiar with the matter.
• One camera near Pasteur Street, home to key government offices, proved especially valuable in tracking where security personnel parked and how the compound functioned on a routine day.
• Israeli intelligence is also said to have infiltrated segments of the mobile phone infrastructure in the area. In the lead-up to the strike, select towers were reportedly disrupted, limiting communication within the protection detail.
• “We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem,” one current Israeli intelligence official said. “And when you know [a place] as well as you know the street you grew up on, you notice a single thing that’s out of place.”
• The intelligence haul was processed using advanced analytics, including social network analysis, to map relationships and uncover decision-making hubs within Iran’s leadership structure.
• Billions of data points were analysed to identify new individuals for surveillance and potential targeting, creating what one source described as an assembly line focused on producing targets.
• “In Israeli intelligence culture, targeting intelligence is the most essential tactical issue; it is designed to enable a strategy,” said Itai Shapira, a brigadier general in the Israeli military reserves and 25-year veteran of its intelligence directorate.
• “If the decision maker decides that someone has to be assassinated, in Israel the culture is: ‘We will provide the targeting intelligence’.”
• The broader intelligence picture was built over years through signals interception by Unit 8200, human assets recruited by Mossad, and extensive military data analysis compiled into daily briefs.
• Israel has carried out hundreds of overseas assassinations, targeting militant leaders, nuclear scientists and engineers, as well as, at times, innocent bystanders. Its intelligence superiority was prominently displayed during last June’s 12-day war, when more than a dozen Iranian nuclear scientists and senior military officials were killed within minutes in coordinated opening strikes.

US-Israel coordination and final decision

According to officials cited in reports by the Financial Times, CNN, and Associated Press, US and Israeli intelligence had closely tracked Khamenei’s schedule, residences, and meeting patterns.

When intelligence indicated that Khamenei and several senior political and military figures would gather at a compound in Tehran on Saturday morning, the window was seen as unusually advantageous. Officials assessed that once full-scale war began, top leaders would likely move into hardened underground bunkers.

US officials reportedly contributed additional intelligence, including a human source, though the CIA declined public comment.

At 3.38 pm eastern time on Friday, President Donald Trump gave the order to proceed with what was described as Operation Epic Fury, the US-led strikes on Iran. The US military conducted cyber operations to disrupt Iranian command and control systems before Israeli jets moved in.

Daylight strike and precision munitions

Originally, planners had considered a nighttime assault, but sources told CNN the timing was changed to daylight. Around 6 am local time in Israel, fighter jets fired precision-guided munitions at the compound, according to reports.

An unnamed Israeli military official told the Associated Press that three targets were struck within 60 seconds, killing Khamenei and roughly 40 senior officials, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard. The official said that carrying out the operation in daylight added an element of surprise.

Israeli officials said that pilots used long-range precision weapons capable of hitting small targets from over 1,000 kilometres away. “We took their eyes first,” one intelligence official said, referring to the disabling of air defences before the strike.

Strategic debate and long-term campaign

The killing of such a senior political and religious leader marked a significant escalation and has triggered debate within Israel and abroad about the long-term strategic consequences.

Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had directed Mossad in 2001 to prioritise Iran as a top intelligence target, according to former officials. Since then, Israel has been accused of carrying out assassinations of nuclear scientists and military figures, as well as cyber and covert operations targeting Iran’s strategic capabilities.

At the same time, Iranian intelligence agencies have conducted counter-operations, including cyber intrusions and surveillance efforts inside Israel, according to Israeli prosecutors and officials.

Sima Shine, a former Mossad official, described the shift in Israeli doctrine after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, which Israel says was backed by Iran. “In Hebrew, we say, ‘With the food comes the appetite’,” she said. “In other words, the more you have, the more you want.”

Not all operational details surrounding the strike have been made public, and some may remain classified to protect intelligence methods still in use.