Israel Hacked Tehran’s Traffic Cameras to Track Khamenei, Financial Times Reports

LONDON/TEHRAN: In a stunning intelligence revelation, British newspaper Financial Times has reported that Israel covertly hacked into Tehran’s traffic surveillance camera network as part of a targeted operation to monitor and potentially strike Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to the report, the operation was meticulously planned and executed over an extended period. All video footage captured by the compromised cameras was secretly transmitted to Tel Aviv in real time, with Iranian security services remaining completely unaware of the breach.
Israeli intelligence analysts reportedly used the hijacked camera feeds to study the daily routines and movement patterns within Khamenei’s compound, while also mapping out key parking locations and access points — critical data for any precision targeting operation.
The disclosure reveals the extraordinary depth of Israel’s cyber intelligence capabilities and suggests that preparations for striking Iran’s top leadership had been underway long before the current military campaign began.
Cybersecurity analysts note that exploiting civilian urban infrastructure — such as traffic management systems — for covert surveillance represents one of the most sophisticated and difficult-to-detect forms of modern cyber warfare, leaving virtually no trace for counterintelligence agencies to follow.
Tehran has yet to issue an official response to the Financial Times report.