The Mossad: We kidnapped and interrogated on Iranian soil

According to the Mossad, during his investigation the assassin provided a detailed confession thanks to which the entire squad was exposed and dismantled. In his words, he said that he came to the house where the target of the assassination was staying for the purpose of intelligence, but was also ready to murder him. “We will reach out to any party that promotes terrorism against Jews and Israelis all over the world, including on the soil of Iran”

Agents of the Mossad for Intelligence and Special Tasks kidnapped and interrogated in Iran the assassin sent by Iranian intelligence to assassinate an Israeli businessman in Cyprus recently, according to a statement published by the organization this evening (Thursday).

At the beginning of the week, the Cyprus police announced the foiling of the attempted Iranian attack against Israeli businessmen and Jewish targets in the country. The attack was thwarted in cooperation between the intelligence services of Cyprus and the Mossad and other intelligence organizations in the West. In a statement published this evening by the Mossad, it was claimed that in an operation on Iranian soil, the head of the cell, Yosef Shahbazi-Abbasalilu, was kidnapped and interrogated. According to the Mossad, during his investigation the assassin provided a detailed confession thanks to which the entire squad was exposed and dismantled.

In a video clip of a segment of his investigation, Shahbazi-Abbasalilo said that his operator is Hassan Shushatri Zadeh, a person in the Mossad who is claimed to be a senior and veteran operative in the Foreign Intelligence Division (Division 800) of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization. The assassin said in the video that his Iranian handler directed him to reach northern Cyprus controlled by Turkey and from there he would be helped by Pakistani agents working for the Revolutionary Guards to illegally infiltrate Cyprus

Shahbazi-Abbasalilu added that the Pakistani operatives he worked with had previously carried out assassinations for the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence organization. According to him, after entering Cyprus, he received instructions regarding the target for elimination through a special interface of the intelligence organization of the Revolutionary Guards that was based on the WhatsApp application. “In this way I got a picture from him and landmarks to the house where he is staying,” he said in the video.

Shahbazi-Abbasalilo told in his investigation that he came to the area of ​​the house where the target for assassination was staying to gather intelligence and photograph the place for his operator. “My plan was that if the man was there…if it was an empty and quiet track, to eliminate him with the weapon,” he said.

According to him, his operator in the Revolutionary Guards ordered him to flee the scene immediately after he eliminated the target. Shahbazi-Abbasalilo said in the video that at some point his Iranian operator found out that the security services of Cyprus had tracked him down and ordered him to hide the weapon and return to Iran. The assassin said in the video that he hid the gun in a remote spot in Limassol, in a hole, wrapped in a cloth. After that, fled Cyprus.

Not long after he arrived back in Iran, Shahbazi-Abbasalilu was kidnapped by two Mossad agents who extracted from him the confession regarding his part in the attack. A senior Mossad official said: “We will reach out to any party that promotes terrorism against Jews and Israelis all over the world, including on Iranian soil.”