Israeli spies spent years hacking nearly every traffic camera in Tehran so they could monitor Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before he was eventually wiped out, according to a report.
The cameras, including one directly pointed at Khamenei’s closely guarded compound, allowed Mossad to build highly specific intelligence files that aided Saturday’s deadly strikes, multiple sources told the Financial Times.
“We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem,” an Israeli intelligence official claimed.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a religious gathering in Tehran on February 19, 2026. KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty Images
CCTV cameras in a street in Tehran, Iran. Mossad allegedly hacked every traffic camera in Tehran for years. via REUTERS“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.”
Some of the images obtained from the cameras allowed Mossad operatives to determine “a pattern of life” for Khamenei’s security guards — including exactly where they parked their cars, their addresses and whom they were tasked with protecting, the sources said.
The data were among the trove of information used to carry out the strikes on Khamenei’s Tehran compound on Saturday — just as a massive meeting of the Islamic Republic’s security officials was underway.
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The plan to kill Khamenei had been in the works for months, but the timeline was adjusted once it was confirmed that the supreme leader would be attending in person, the sources said.
Before President Trump gave the order to unleash “Operation Epic Fury,” the traffic cameras apparently confirmed Khamenei’s meeting was running on time.
Ultimately, fighter jets swooped in in broad daylight as part of widespread strikes, turning Khamenei’s building into rubble — and killing the despotic cleric along with dozens of officials and several members of his family.
