OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli police have arrested a citizen on suspicion of having been recruited by Iran to plot the assassinations of top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the force said Thursday.

“An Israeli citizen was recruited by Iranian intelligence to promote assassinations of Israeli figures. He was smuggled twice into Iran and received payment for carrying out missions,” the police said in a joint statement with the Shin Bet domestic security service said.

Among the alleged targets were Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the statement said. Israeli media identified the man as Mordechai Maman of Ashkelon and said he was born in 1952, without specifying his birth date.

The reports said he had been in custody since August 29. The joint statement from the police and Shin Bet said he was “a businessman who lived in Turkey for an extended period” and maintained connections with Turks and Iranians who introduced him by phone to an Iranian businessman called Eddie.

It said the suspect first visited Iran in May 2024 to meet Eddie, after Eddie had “difficulty leaving” Iran.

He also met someone called Hajjah, who was introduced as an Iranian security operative, the statement said.

The suspect was asked during this trip to carry out security missions in Israel, including transferring “money or a gun”, taking pictures of crowded public places and threatening other Israelis recruited by Tehran, the statement alleged.