Turkish Intelligence has thwarted an Iranian attempt to assassinate Israeli businessman Yair Geller, Turkish media reported Friday. According to the report, the attempted killing of Geller, who also has Turkish citizenship, was part of Iran’s desire to avenge the Nov. 27, 2020 assassination by Israeli agents of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the man who led the Iranian nuclear program.
Geller, who owns Globrands Ltd that specializes in advertising, trade, consumer promotions and campaigns, sponsorship, trade marketing, and market research, told Kan 11 News on Friday morning: “I was informed that the Iranians were following me, I am glad that the squad was captured, and then everyone who took care to protect me.”
According to Turkish media reports, Iranian intelligence has been following Geller’s business and private life in Istanbul, where he lives. Turkish counter-espionage field agents watched the Iranian assassination cell step by step, using passive surveillance methods. The Turks concluded that Iran planned to gather information about Geller’s place of residence where they would carry out the assassination through Turkish citizens to evade attention.
When the second phase of preparations for the assassination had begun, Turkish Intelligence decided to share the information with Mossad and convened a high-level secret meeting of the two intelligence agencies in Ankara. The two agencies agreed that the assassination was about to take place soon and that it had the potential to undermine relations between Turkey and Israel, just as they have begun to thaw.
Geller was then taken to a hiding place, where Mossad agents were assigned to him with Turkish government consent. Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry invited Geller to come to live in Tel Aviv, in keeping with security protocols, but the businessman declined the offer, saying he loved Istanbul.
Turkish media reported that the Iran-based operators of assassination were unaware that Geller had been moved to a hiding place. This apparently helped the Istanbul Police Organized Crime unit in arresting eight of nine suspects in the plot.
The assassination cell was run from Iran by a 53-year-old intelligence officer named Yassin Tahermkandi, through an Iranian agent in Turkey named Saleh Mustah.
According to Turkish media, the cell members switched burner phones frequently and used difficult-to-trace Iranian lines.
