Shortly after the first explosions began rocking Iran on Shabbos morning, millions of Iranians began receiving a cascade of push notifications. They did not come from state authorities urging calm or caution. Instead, they appeared to originate from BadeSaba Calendar, a widely used prayer-timing app downloaded more than five million times from Google Play.

The first message arrived at 9:52 a.m. Tehran time, just after the strikes began.

“Help has arrived.”

Over the next half hour, a stream of messages followed in rapid succession. Screenshots shared with media outlets showed blunt appeals directed at Iranian security forces. Military personnel were urged to lay down their weapons. Promises of amnesty were offered. Others were told to join “the forces of liberation” and “defend your brothers.”

“The time for revenge has come,” read one notification sent at 10:02 a.m., translated from Farsi. “The regime’s repressive forces will pay for their cruel and merciless actions against the innocent people of Iran.”

Another message, sent minutes later, framed the appeal as a lifeline: “Lay down your weapons or join the forces of liberation. Only in this way can you save your lives. For a free Iran.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the apparent hack.

Cybersecurity analysts confirmed that users of the BadeSaba app did receive coordinated notifications around the time of the strikes. But attribution remains murky.

“At this point, we genuinely do not know who is behind them — whether it was Israel or other anti-government Iranian groups,” said Narges Keshavarznia, a digital rights researcher at the Miaan Group. “Attribution in cases like this is always complex, and it’s still too early to draw conclusions.”

Others argue that the precision and timing suggest months of preparation.

“The compromise of assets likely happened some time ago,” said Morey Haber, chief security adviser at BeyondTrust. “This is not a smash-and-grab attack. It appears strategic — nation-state versus nation-state — executed with intent and precision.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)