Another Israeli operation—carried out on the eve of the 12-day war against Iran—was exposed by the Iranians themselves.
Like the earlier operation that disabled more than 100 ballistic missile launchers (which Tehran said Israel penetrated electronically and disabled remotely), this one targeted Iranian space assets.
The CEO of Iran’s Space Industry company says one satellite launched into orbit two weeks before the start of the 12-day war received an “unauthorized command” and lost contact. Hossein Shahrebi, CEO of Omidfaza, told ISNA on Sunday, October 4, that the satellite Hudud was functioning until about two weeks before the conflict—then “a series of events occurred, and unfortunately an unwanted command was received by the satellite from outside the satellite control complex, and then our communications with the satellite were cut and we could not communicate with Hudud.”
He also said another Iranian satellite launched into orbit, named Kowsar, experienced problems and failed to transmit images. Iranian officials announced last November that two satellites, Kowsar and Hodhod, were launched on a Russian rocket; Iranian media said these were the first satellites built by the private sector and were produced by Omid.