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Iranwire – The Wall Street Journal, in a report titled “Israel Hunts Iranian Regime Members One by One in Their Hiding Places,” says that based on information from Israeli officials and security sources, Israeli intelligence has launched a wide-ranging effort to track and target senior Iranian military and security figures during the ongoing war.
This report comes on the 20th day of the 2026 war, following a series of high-profile assassinations, including Ali Larijani (Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council) and Esmail Khatib (Minister of Intelligence). The shift from targeting infrastructure like missile sites to directly “hunting” individuals suggests the conflict has entered a “decapitation” phase, aimed at weakening the regime by eliminating its key decision-makers.
According to the report, Israel is using a mix of “field intelligence,” “sources inside Iran,” and its own “intelligence capabilities” to locate commanders and security officials of the Islamic Republic. These sources say that several recent precision strikes on command centers and security gatherings were carried out using this intelligence.
The reference to “sources inside Iran” highlights a long-standing concern for Tehran: infiltration. For years, the IRGC has blamed “infiltrators” for incidents such as the theft of nuclear archives and the assassination of scientists. In the current war, Israel’s ability to strike specific “hiding place” locations, including a “villa in Savojbolagh” (as mentioned in the Keivani case), indicates that Mossad may have deep access within Iran’s most sensitive security networks.
The report also mentions threatening phone calls made to certain commanders, in which they were warned to distance themselves from the government or face being targeted.
Context: This form of psychological warfare – directly communicating with enemy officials – is designed to create fear and distrust. If a commander receives a call on a supposedly “secure” line, it can immediately raise suspicion within their own circle. This ties into the weaknesses of the “Mosaic Defense” structure; if local commanders begin to distrust each other, coordination across decentralized units becomes difficult.
The Wall Street Journal adds that Israeli officials believe these operations could place significant psychological pressure on Iran’s military leadership and disrupt the overall command structure of its security forces.
