New details are emerging about Israel’s intelligence and operational preparations that led to the attack in Iran, following serious warnings about Tehran’s progress in advancing its military nuclear program.

Channel 12 News reported that the political leadership instructed the IDF last November to prepare for an attack in Iran.

Immediately afterward, the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate formed a special team, a covert unit that included technological experts who focused on analyzing progress in the nuclear field.

As early as January, the team warned of “Tehran’s initiation of a systematic project to produce the final stage required for launching a nuclear missile.” Around the same time, another warning bell was noted when the Intelligence Directorate’s research division published a warning about disturbing signs of Iranian nuclear weapons development.

The warning noted secret activity by a team of Iranian nuclear scientists who were working on previously untested components—signaling progress towards a critical stage of the program.

In May, the head of the Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, echoed the warnings and alerted the political leadership: “I would like to warn decision-makers about troubling developments in Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It appears that Iran is making determined progress, narrowing both the technological and cognitive gaps needed to complete the development of a nuclear weapon.”

At this stage, preparations for the attack were already in full swing. The operational requirement was to launch a powerful opening attack, including the simultaneous elimination of senior officials, commanders and key nuclear scientists.

The Intelligence Directorate tracked multiple potential locations for each target—including offices, private residences, hideouts, and even places they had occasionally stayed over the past year.

During the two weeks leading up to the attack, the Intelligence Directorate developed a technological tool that monitored, in real time, the number of senior officials who could be eliminated in real time. This tool determined the exact timing—early Friday morning—and the attack locations for each target.

The result: the elimination of over 30 senior officials, including the Iranian Chief of Staff, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and senior nuclear scientists.

Two of the senior officials who were supposed to be at home ended up going  on vacation, but they were located and eliminated at what turned out to their final “vacation.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)