Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — An Iranian has been indicted on charges of spying against
Israel.

An Israeli court has indicted a 55-year-old Iranian on charges of
espionage and helping Iranian attack plans in Israel. The indictment said
Ali Mansouri, also a Belgian national, was directed by Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The accused visited Israel three times to establish fictitious companies in Israel as a cover for a terrorist infrastructure, including at least one additional Iranian agent expected to come to Israel in the future,” the indictment said.

The indictment, filed on Oct. 6 in the district court of Lod, included n ew details of the charges against Mansouri, whose first visit was in July 2012.

The indictment said Mansouri was recruited by IRGC to facilitate what was termed terrorist operations in Israel. On Sept. 29, the Israel Security Agency, which reported Mansouri’s arrest, did not cite plans for an Iranian attack.

Under the IRGC operation, Mansouri was meant to establish a company that
would enable another Iranian agent to enter Israel. At that point, Mansouri
was meant to leave the Jewish state.

Prosecutors said Mansouri, arrested on Sept. 11 as he tried to leave
Israel, was directed by IRGC’s Quds Force, responsible for such proxies as
Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad. They said Mansouri’s first meeting,
arranged by his brother, was in February 2012 with Quds operatives Haji
Hamid and Haji Mustafa.

The indictment provided details of IRGC espionage operations. Mansouri
was said to have traveled under a new name, Alex Mans, on his Belgian
passport, called Israel on a special phone and with one exception did not
contact Quds Force. In the one time he contacted his Iranian handlers
through the Internet, Mansouri was rebuked for negligence.

Mansouri, promised $1 million by Quds Force, was said to have collected
photographs of a classified Israeli facility, the U.S. embassy and
Ben-Gurion Airport. The indictment said Mansouri also reported security
procedures at the airport.

Analysts said Mansouri marked the most sophisticated Iranian plot to
penetrate Israel. They said Teheran has been recruiting Arabs and Jews to
spy on Israel, nearly all of them arrested soon after they returned from
abroad.

“[This] displays a new pattern in Iran’s strategy against Israel, is
that the process was completely compartmentalized from Iran’s general
intelligence establishment, and it was reminiscent of Western intelligence
operations,” Lior Akerman, a former division head in ISA, said.

  Ali Mansouri, Belgian indicted on espionage charges in Israel photographed U.S. embassy, classified site, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lior Akerman, Quds Force