A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf, Iran, July 25, 2005. (photo credit: RAHEB HOMAVANDI/REUTERS)
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Israeli Security forces arrested a Jordanian citizen, originally from Hebron, on Thursday under the suspicion that he was acting as an Iranian spy.
32-year-old Thaar Shafout was arrested by police and, under interrogation, the Shin Bet discovered that Shafout was a Jordanian businessman carrying out missions to promote the establishment of infrastructure in Israel, as well as Judea and Samaria, that would serve confidential activities by the Iranians.
Shafout originally met two representatives of Iranian intelligence in Jordan, who acted under the aliases Abu Tsadek and Abu Jaafar. Shafout met with the two operatives several times throughout 2018 in Lebanon and Syria.
Tsadek and Jaafar instructed the Jordanian to establish a business infrastructure in Israel as a cover for future Iranian activity, as well as to recruit more spies within the country to assist in gathering intelligence. Shafout was therein instructed to make business connections in Israel and in Judea and Samaria territories.
Shafout made several contacts “in the field” so that they may assist him in his mission. He initiated the creation of a plant in Jordan that would hire Shiite workers and serve as an anchor for future Iranian activity over the border in Israel. The Iranian contacts agreed to give an initial investment of $500,000 to create the plant, as well as more later to establish operations in the field.
The Iranian contacts gave Shafout encrypted means of communication so as to contact them, as well.
Iranian intelligence, according to Shafout, intended to use him to transfer funds to terror contacts throughout Israel. They wished that Shafout, once he finished carrying out all of the tasks for them in Israel, to come to Iran and finish his training as a spy.
The Shin Bet’s capture of Shafout thwarted all of these plans by the Iranian intelligence.
Shafout was indicted in early June by the military prosecution for contact with an enemy, contact with a hostile organization, and conspiracy to bring enemy money into the area.
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