Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday issued a stark warning to Israel, saying the country has “prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate” following revelations that Israeli intelligence operatives smuggled drones and other weapons into Iran ahead of planned strikes.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,” read a statement posted on Khamenei’s official X account. The remark is the most direct response yet from Tehran since Israeli officials, speaking to the Associated Press, acknowledged the covert operation aimed at targeting Iranian assets.
The Israeli admission — rare in its openness — signals a bold escalation in the long-standing shadow war between the two bitter rivals. Israeli officials claimed the smuggling operation was necessary to “disrupt Iran’s ability to threaten Israel from within,” referring to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its support for proxy militias across the region.
While Israel did not publicly disclose how the weapons were brought into Iran, international media quoting sources reported that the drones may have been assembled in-country by operatives or local collaborators.
Iranian state media swiftly condemned the act, accusing Israel of violating international law and orchestrating acts of terrorism on sovereign soil. Iranian security agencies have reportedly launched a nationwide investigation to track the route of the weapons and identify internal collaborators.
Israel and Iran have been locked in a covert conflict for over a decade, with tensions flaring over Iran’s nuclear programme, its ballistic missile development, and its alleged backing Hezbollah in Lebanon and various factions in Syria and Iraq.
Israel, which considers a nuclear-armed Iran an existential threat, has been linked to cyberattacks, assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, and mysterious explosions at key facilities.
