A sophisticated network of Iranian operatives has targeted Israeli journalists with death threats.

Ha’aretz and Channel 13 News have both reported receiving threatening calls from Iranian messengers vowing to kill employees and their families simply for being members of the press.

One chilling audio clip has a menacing voice with an Iranian accent delivering a death threat over a US-based phone number. Fictitious identities like “Caroline Smart” have attempted to entrap reporters by offering cash payments to unwittingly aid in Iranian cyber-espionage activity.

Digital surveillance experts tracking the covert operation have also uncovered a complex web of fake online personas and impersonator accounts seeking to infiltrate Israeli protest movements, grassroots organizations, and even the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. They even launched a fake X account impersonating controversial Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to stoke social unrest.

These heinous attacks align with the well-documented patterns of Iran leveraging misinformation, intimidation, and “honey traps” to target its adversaries. Just last year, UK counterintelligence foiled over 15 Tehran-backed assassination plots targeting Iranian expats and journalists on British soil, including a grisly stabbing attack on an Iran International reporter.

It also comes on the heels of another Iranian-backed “influencer” operation unmasked last year, in which fake profiles infiltrated digital communities and WhatsApp groups across Israel.

At some point, the free world must recognize Iran’s latest psychological warfare campaign as the existential threat it truly represents. In a time where people can no longer discern truth from fiction or friend from foe, even the most resilient democracies become vulnerable to fracturing from within.

For Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, that remains the ultimate prize.