Two teens from the north charged with spying for Iran

By the Editorial Team · Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Two teenagers from Kiryat Motzkin have been charged with espionage-related offenses for allegedly working with an Iranian agent to gather and transmit information on public sites and recruit others for similar activities. Authorities note that many such cases involve youths without malicious intent, sharing mostly trivial or publicly available information, but the prosecutions reflect ongoing concerns about foreign intelligence efforts in Israel.

Two teenage residents of Kiryat Motzkin in northern Israel have been charged with espionage-related offenses for allegedly working on behalf of an Iranian agent. The 14- and 16-year-old youths stand accused of activities including photographing public sites, vandalizing property, and attempting to recruit other teenagers for similar tasks.

The pair were indicted in Haifa District Juvenile Court. One faces charges of contact with a foreign agent, three counts of providing information for the enemy, and vandalism. The other is charged with contact with a foreign agent and vandalism.

According to the indictment, the scheme began in June when one of the teenagers was seeking employment and reached out to a Telegram user identified as “Daniel.” This individual, purportedly connected to Iranian intelligence, offered payment, including in cryptocurrency, to perform various assignments. The teenager later enlisted the other defendant to assist.

The indictment details that the teenagers were tasked with photographing shopping malls in Herzliya and Tel Aviv. These images were reportedly accompanied by descriptions of the number of entrances and exits, as well as counts of security personnel at one location. On one occasion, one of the teenagers deleted footage previously sent to the agent out of concern that the material could be used to facilitate an attack.

The youths were also ordered to spray-paint graffiti in Kiryat Motzkin and then transmit images of the vandalism to the agent. During their communications, one teenager inquired about the agent’s nationality; the individual confirmed ties to Iran. Despite this, the teenagers maintained contact.

Further allegations include one of the defendants using a friend’s Telegram account to impersonate a soldier from the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Unit 8200, aiming to secure additional assignments. Following instructions from the agent, the teenager reportedly created a Telegram channel to recruit other youths willing to engage in risky operations.

Israeli authorities have prosecuted over 70 similar cases in the past two years involving citizens accused of maintaining contacts with Iranian operatives. Investigations have found that most defendants lacked ideological motives or concrete intent to harm Israel and generally had no access to critical state secrets. Much of the purported information shared has been described as trivial, including images of publicly accessible locations, data already available in the media, or false information.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.