Tajik With Russian Passport Held for Iran Spying

Israeli security agencies said Thursday that Behruz Sobirgon, a Tajik citizen holding a Russian passport, was arrested in June on suspicion of Iranian-directed espionage during Operation Roaring Lion. Hebrew reports citing the Shin Bet, the Defense Ministry security directorate and police say he documented Iranian missile impact sites, sent coordinates of sensitive locations including Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers, photographed Haifa Port, tried to film a sensitive northern defense facility and worked to recruit additional operatives. Prosecutors filed a declaration ahead of a serious indictment and request to hold him through proceedings. The case shows Iran's wartime effort to turn foreign residents into collection nodes inside Israel, and why counterintelligence cooperation remains part of national defense.