Did Israel Thwart Iran Satellite Launch?

Iran over the weekend failed in yet another attempt to put a communications satellite into orbit.

Iranian media reported that low rocket speed had resulted in the inability to successfully deploy the Zafar I satellite.

That same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that Israel might have had something to do with that.

“We were told today that Iran failed to launch a satellite. They also fail to deliver weapons to Syria and Lebanon because we are constantly operating there these days,” Netanyahu said at a campaign event.

There have been numerous examples over the past several years suggesting that Israel and its agents are active inside Iran. Two of the bigger ones are:

• Netanyahu’s detailed revelation in 2018 that Iran was systematically violating its international nuclear agreements. Somehow, Israel’s Mossad managed to smuggle 110,000 classified documents out of the Islamic Republic;
• When Iran’s nuclear program was significantly set back by the advanced Stuxnet computer virus, it was widely assumed that the IDF’s vaunted 8200 cyber warfare unit was behind the hack.