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Iran’s Khamenei Warned Nasrallah of Israeli Plot to Kill Him, Sources Say

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with Iran’s parliament members in Tehran, Iran, July 21, 2024. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to flee Lebanon days before he was killed in an Israeli strike and is now deeply worried about Israeli infiltration of senior government ranks in Tehran, three Iranian sources said.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Hezbollah’s booby-trapped pagers on Sept. 17, Khamenei sent a message with an envoy to beseech the Hezbollah secretary general to leave for Iran, citing intelligence reports that suggested Israel had operatives within Hezbollah and was planning to kill him, one of the sources, a senior Iranian official, told Reuters.

The messenger, the official said, was a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who was with Nasrallah in his bunker when it was hit by Israeli bombs and was also killed.

Khamenei, who has remained in a secure location inside Iran since Saturday, personally ordered a barrage of around 200 missiles to be fired at Israel on Tuesday, a senior Iranian official said. The attack was retaliation for the deaths of Nasrallah and Nilforoushan, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.

The statement also cited the July killing of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Israel‘s attacks on Lebanon. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.

Israel on Tuesday began what it labeled as a “limited” ground incursion against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Iran’s foreign ministry and the office of Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which oversees the country’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad, did not reply to requests for comment.

Nasrallah’s assassination followed two weeks of precise Israeli strikes that have destroyed weapons sites, eliminated half of Hezbollah’s leadership council, and decimated its top military command.

Iran’s fears for the safety of Khamenei and the loss of trust, within both Hezbollah and Iran’s establishment and between them, emerged in the conversations with 10 sources for this story, who described a situation that could complicate the effective functioning of Iran’s Axis of Resistance alliance of anti-Israel irregular armed terrorist groups.

Founded with Iran’s backing the 1980s, Hezbollah has long been the most formidable member of the alliance.

The disarray is also making it hard for Hezbollah to choose a new leader, fearing the ongoing infiltration will put the successor at risk, four Lebanese sources said.

“Basically, Iran lost the biggest investment it had for the past decades,” said Magnus Ranstorp, a Hezbollah expert at the Swedish Defense University, of the deep damage caused to Hezbollah that he said diminished Iran’s capacity to strike at Israel‘s borders.

“It shook Iran to the core. It shows how Iran is deeply infiltrated also: they not only killed Nasrallah, they killed Nilforoushan,” he said, who was a trusted military adviser to Khamenei.

Hezbollah’s lost military capacity and leadership cadre might push Iran towards the type of attacks against Israeli embassies and personnel abroad that it engaged in more frequently before the rise of its proxy forces, Ranstorp said.

IRAN MAKES ARRESTS

Nasrallah’s death has prompted Iranian authorities to thoroughly investigate possible infiltrations within Iran’s own ranks, from the powerful Revolutionary Guards to senior security officials, a second senior Iranian official said. They are especially focused on those who travel abroad or have relatives living outside Iran, the first official said.

Tehran grew suspicious of certain members of the Guards who had been traveling to Lebanon, he said. Concerns were raised when one of these individuals began asking about Nasrallah’s whereabouts, particularly inquiring about how long he would remain in specific locations, the official added.

The individual has been arrested along with several others, the first official said, after alarm was raised in Iran’s intelligence circles. The suspect’s family had relocated outside Iran, the official said, without identifying the suspect or his relatives.

The second official said the assassination has spread mistrust between Tehran and Hezbollah, and within Hezbollah.

“The trust that held everything together has disappeared,” the official said.

The Supreme Leader “no longer trusts anyone,” said a third source who is close to Iran’s establishment.

Alarm bells had already rung within Tehran and Hezbollah about possible Mossad infiltrations after the killing in July of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike on a secretive Beirut location while meeting an IRGC commander, two Hezbollah sources and a Lebanese security official told Reuters at the time. That killing was followed a few hours later by the assassination of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran.

Unlike Haniyeh’s death, Israel publicly claimed responsibility for the killing of Shukr, a low-profile figure who Nasrallah nonetheless described, at his funeral, as a central figure in Hezbollah’s history who had built its most important capabilities.

Shukr was key to the development of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including precision-guided missiles, and was in charge of the Shi’ite groups operations against Israel over the past year, Israel‘s military has said.

Iranian fears about Israeli penetration of its upper ranks stretches back years. In 2021, former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the head of an Iranian intelligence unit that was supposed to target agents of Mossad had himself been an agent for the Israeli spy agency, telling CNN Turk that Israel obtained sensitive documents on Iran’s nuclear program, a reference to a 2018 raid in which Israel obtained a huge trove of top secret documents about the program.

Also in 2021, Israel‘s outgoing spy chief Yossi Cohen gave details about the raid, telling the BBC that 20 non-Israeli Mossad agents were involved in stealing the archive from a warehouse.

PAGER WARNING

Khamenei’s invitation to Nasrallah to relocate to Iran came after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah blew up in deadly attacks on Sept 17 and 18, the first official said. The attacks have been widely attributed to Israel, although it has not officially claimed responsibility.

Nasrallah, however, was confident in his security and trusted his inner circle completely, the official said, despite Tehran’s serious concerns about potential infiltrators within Hezbollah’s ranks.

Khamenei tried a second time, relaying another message through Nilforoushan to Nasrallah last week, imploring him to leave Lebanon and relocate to Iran as a safer location. But Nasrallah insisted on staying in Lebanon, the official said.

Several high-level meetings were held in Tehran following the pager blasts to discuss Hezbollah and Nasrallah’s safety, the official said, but declined to say who attended those meetings.

Simultaneously, in Lebanon, Hezbollah began conducting a major investigation to purge Israeli spies among them, questioning hundreds of members after the pager detonations, three sources in Lebanon told Reuters.

Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, a senior Hezbollah official, was leading the investigation, a Hezbollah source said. The probe was progressing rapidly, the source said, before an Israeli raid killed him a day after Nasrallah’s assassination. Another raid earlier last week had targeted other senior Hezbollah commanders, some of who were involved in the inquiry.

Kaouk had summoned for questioning Hezbollah officials involved in logistics and others “who participated, mediated, and received offers on pagers and walkie-talkies,” the source said.

A “deeper and comprehensive inquiry” and purge were now needed after the killing of Nasrallah and other commanders, the source said.

Ali al-Amin, the editor-in-chief for Janoubia, a news site based that focuses on the Shi’ite community and Hezbollah said reports indicated that Hezbollah detained hundreds of people for questioning after the pagers saga.

Hezbollah is reeling from Nasrallah’s killing in his deep bunker in a command HQ, shocked at how successfully Israel penetrated the group, seven sources said.

Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy research director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut with a focus on Iran and Hezbollah, described the offensive as “the biggest intelligence infiltration by Israel” since Hezbollah was founded with Iran’s backing in the 1980s.

The current Israeli escalation follows almost a year of cross-border fighting after Hezbollah began rocket attacks in support of its ally Hamas. The Palestinian terrorist group killed 1,200 people and seized 250 hostages in an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, launching the war in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

LOSS OF TRUST

The Israeli offensive and fear of more attacks on Hezbollah have also prevented the Iranian-backed group from organizing a nationwide funeral on a scale reflecting Nasrallah’s religious and leadership status, according to four sources familiar with the debate within Hezbollah.

“No one can authorize a funeral in these circumstances,” one Hezbollah source said, lamenting the situation in which officials and religious leaders could not come forward to properly honor the late leader.

Several commanders killed last week were buried discreetly on Monday, with plans for a proper religious ceremony when the conflict ends.

Hezbollah is mulling the option of securing a religious decree to bury Nasrallah temporarily and hold an official funeral when the situation permits, the four Lebanese sources said.

Hezbollah has refrained from officially appointing a successor to Nasrallah, possibly to avoid making his replacement a target for an Israeli assassination, they said.

“Appointing a new Secretary General could be dangerous if Israel assassinates him right after,” said Amin. “The group can’t risk more chaos by appointing someone only to see them killed.”

The post Iran’s Khamenei Warned Nasrallah of Israeli Plot to Kill Him, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Netanyahu Says Israel to Begin Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations to End War, Release Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had directed the immediate initiation of negotiations for the release of all hostages in Gaza and the conclusion of the war there on terms acceptable to Israel.

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Turkish Ports Raise New Barriers to Israel-Linked Ships, Sources Say

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Turkish port authorities have begun informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country, according to two shipping sources.

The move is another step Turkey has taken against Israel after it last year severed trade with the country, worth $7 billion annually, over its war in Gaza with Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The sources said the harbor master’s office had verbally instructed port agents to provide written assurances, adding that there was no official circular on the issue.

One of the sources said the instruction applied to ports across Turkey.

The second source said vessels arriving directly from Israel or departing to Israeli ports would no longer be permitted to dock at Turkish ports, according to information provided by the port authority of the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

Turkish-flagged ships will also be prohibited from calling at Israeli ports, according to the source.

The transport ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move could further complicate shipments to Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have targeted ships in the Red Sea since 2023 in what they call an act of solidarity with Palestinians.

NATO member Turkey has fiercely criticized Israel over its attacks on Gaza and called it a genocide against the Palestinians, a charge Israel denies.

The new guarantee letters should state that vessel owners, managers, and operators have no ties to Israel, and that certain types of cargo, including explosives and radioactive materials or military equipment, are not on board en route to Israel, the second source said.

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Lebanon Says It Is Beginning Disarmament of Palestinian Factions in Refugee Camps

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon said on Thursday it was launching the planned disarmament of Palestinian factions in refugee camps, part of a wider effort to establish a state monopoly on arms.

The planned disarmament was starting with the handover of weapons on Thursday from the Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut to the Lebanese army, the Lebanese prime minister’s office said.

The move is meant to mark the start of a broader disarmament effort, with additional deliveries expected in the coming weeks from Burj al-Barajneh and other camps across the country, the office said in a statement.

An official from Fatah told Reuters that the only weapons being handed over so far were illegal arms that entered the camp 24 hours ago. TV footage showed army vehicles entering the camp ahead of a handover. Reuters could not independently verify what arms were being handed over.

As part of a truce with Israel struck in November and backed by the United States, Lebanon committed to restricting arms to six specific state security forces, in a challenge to Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim terror group Hezbollah.

The cabinet has tasked the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year.

The initiative to disarm Palestinian factions is part of an agreement reached during a May 21 summit between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which affirmed Lebanon‘s sovereignty and the principle that only the state should bear arms, the statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Two days later, Lebanese and Palestinian officials agreed on a timeline and mechanism for disarmament, the statement said.

Palestinian factions have long operated with relative autonomy in several of Lebanon‘s 12 refugee camps, which fall largely outside the jurisdiction of the Lebanese state. The latest handover represents the most serious bid in years to address weapons held inside the camps.

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