How Mossad spies planned and attacked Iran | All you need to know

Israel-Iran War: Netanyahu-led Israeli government sent commandos of its intelligence agency - Mossad deep into Iran to destroy the weapon system of the Islamic nation during Operation Rising Lion. As per an unnamed Israeli security source cited by the news agency Reuters, Israel used a ploy to suggest the strike was not imminent.

The officials, who talked to the news agency shortly before Israel attacked Iran, rejected that there was any imminent action and repeatedly said talk of strikes was just "psychological pressure" to influence US-Iranian nuclear negotiations that were due on Sunday.

Iran has not given many details about the condition of the sites after Israeli strikes. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the strikes "unlawful and cowardly attacks." The country's chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed a harsh response to Israel.

Moreover, several Israeli officials also talked to the New York Times and revealed how Israel's attack was the result of years of planning, intelligence collection, infiltration into Iran and factors like Mossad. Israel's Operation Rising Lion was the result of an intense spycraft that helped Israel damage Iran's defence to an extent, three top officials from the Israeli government told the New York Times.

The operation was initiated by smuggling weapons into Iran by Israeli operatives and deploying drones in the region, the officials said.

'With the Strength of a Lion'

Before launching Operation Rising Lion and killing top Iranian officials, the Netanyahu government tracked the movements of those scientists and officials.

This was done jointly by the Israeli military intelligence and the Mossad foreign intelligence service. The Israeli teams used the code name - “With the Strength of a Lion" - one of the officials told the American news agency.

The officials, who talked to the agency on the condition of anonymity, said they do not know when and how the weapons were smuggled into Iran.