A severe indictment was filed Friday morning at the Jerusalem District Court against a reserve soldier from Jerusalem, who served in the military's Iron Dome air defense system, on suspicion of transferring information to Iranian operatives in exchange for payment.
According to the indictment, the defendant, named as Raz Cohen, is accused of security offenses and of allegedly providing information related to Iron Dome activity.
The defendant was arrested at the start of the war and questioned by Lahav 433 in a joint investigation with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). His detention was extended several times, and the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed the indictment on Friday.
The indictment alleges that the reservist maintained contact with Iranian elements and passed along sensitive information connected to Israel’s air defense operations. Authorities have not, in the text provided, detailed the full scope of the information allegedly transferred or the exact sums involved.
The case adds to a growing list of alleged Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis, including current and former security personnel, for intelligence-gathering missions. Israeli authorities have repeatedly warned in recent months that Iranian handlers are increasingly using financial incentives to recruit targets inside Israel.
An earlier case involved two additional reservists
In January 2025, an indictment was filed at the Haifa District Court against IDF reservist Yuri Ilyaspov, 22, who also served in an Iron Dome battery unit, and his friend Georgy Andreev, 21, over alleged ties to an Iranian operative and actions they allegedly carried out in Israel. The two were childhood friends and lived only a few hundred meters from one another in Kiryat Yam.
Ilyaspov was charged, among other offenses, with aiding the enemy in wartime, transmitting information to the enemy, aggravated espionage, and contact with a foreign agent. He was also charged with property defacement, destruction of evidence, forgery, and use of a forged document.
Andreev was charged with contact with a foreign agent, as well as destruction of evidence, theft, and property defacement. The filing of Friday’s indictment in Jerusalem underscores Israeli authorities’ continued focus on alleged Iran-linked espionage activity involving local recruits.
This is a developing story.