According to a Wall Street Journal report published today, Israel spent months secretly smuggling parts for hundreds of drones armed with explosives into Iran. These shipments—delivered via suitcases, trucks, and shipping containers—also included munitions that could be launched from unmanned platforms.

Sources told the American outlet that small, well-equipped teams were stationed near Iranian air defense systems and missile launch sites. When the Israeli strike began on Friday, some of these agents disabled the air defenses, while others directly attacked members of the missile units.

The mission reportedly aimed not only to destroy Iranian capabilities but to neutralize threats to Israeli fighter jets. Mossad teams successfully targeted dozens of missiles before they could be launched in the critical early hours of the attack.

The operation was years in the making. The report says the Mossad had precise intelligence on where Iran stored its missiles. Drone parts were smuggled using commercial channels, often via unsuspecting business partners.

Additionally, the Mossad discovered that Iran's missile transport depended on trucks moving them from storage to launch sites—a major bottleneck, since Iran has four times more missiles than trucks. Israel exploited this vulnerability, sabotaging dozens of trucks to disrupt the Iranian missile infrastructure.