Iran hasn’t been having an easy time of it lately. Its economy is in free fall, with a 90% decrease in oil sales since 2018. The riyal has collapsed. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The coronavirus continues to kill many more than the country has admitted.
And there have been five mysterious explosions , some of them gigantic, in the country: one at the new centrifuge plant at Natanz, another at the ballistic missile center at Khojir Airbase, two more at power plants in Ahvaz and Shiraz, and a fifth at what was described as a “medical facility” in Tehran but that outside analysts believe may have been the site for a secret military operation. Iran at first downplayed the significance of these attacks, attributing them to “gas tank explosions” of little consequence; gradually, however, it has been compelled to admit what the world already knew – these were devastating attacks, and most likely ,the result of Israeli cyberwarriors putting on a display, in case Iran was in danger of forgetting, what they are capable of.
Iran now looks like a laughingstock, particularly in the Arab states that have reported enthusiastically, even admiringly, about the attacks on Iranian targets and their likely source — Israel. It has threatened, but so far not dared, to launch another cyberwarfare attack on the Jewish state. When it tried to damage Israel’s water system, instructing its computers to add toxic amounts of chlorine to the drinking water, the attack was caught by the Israelis within a few minutes and no damage was done. But Israel’s response was a cyberattack on Iran’s main port at Bandar Abbas that managed to snarl both sea and land traffic for many days, a costly disruption of the economy. It may be that Iran will not wage cyberwarfare directly against Israel, so as to avoid a response in kind, but engage in more conventional attacks, perhaps by lobbing some missiles at Israel from Iranian bases in Syria, or even launching attacks on Israel’s Arab allies, targeting UAE tankers in the Gulf, or Saudi oil production facilities..
The latest example of Israel’s technological prowess is its launch of the Ofek 16 spy satellite. The story is here.
Israel launched the new Ofek 16 spy satellite into orbit from a launchpad at Palmachim airbase in central Israel early Monday morning, the Defense Ministry announced.
“The Space Administration in the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), of the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMoD), and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), have successfully launched the “Ofek 16″ reconnaissance” satellite into space, today at 4:00 AM,” the ministry said in a statement.
The “Ofek 16” is an electro-optical reconnaissance satellite with advanced capabilities and was the first launch of an Israeli satellite since Spacecom’s Amos-17 took off from Florida in 2017….
Amnon Harari, Head of the Defense Ministry’s Space and Satellite Administration, told reporters that the earth-observing satellite will be “used to monitor threats facing the State of Israel which require constant monitoring.”
According to Harari, Iran’s space program is “a threat that we have to monitor” despite the failures they’ve had in recent years.
“Iran is investing a lot into building its space power and program,” he said. “The effort is there and we should assume that eventually, they will reach a significant level in this area. Although to achieve technology like Ofek 16 will take a long time, its a threat we have to monitor.”
The satellite, which sends engineers messages of proper functioning, will join other satellites already keeping tabs on Iran and other adversaries. While Ofek 16 is similar to Ofek 11 in terms of capabilities, there have been precise improvements that will give maximum operational output….
The Ofek 16 spy satellite is Israel’s latest technological feat. There have been so many: armed drones, anti-missile defense systems, vastly improved tanks, lasers that can shoot down incoming missiles. Such an Eye-In-The-Sky as Ofek 16 can pick up slight changes in the configurations of even small structures, and telltale signs of missiles being transported, and can make visible even faint tremors of underground activity. It’s a scary prospect for the Iranians, trying to keep up with the Israelis, who continually run technological rings around them. Hence the title of this piece: “Be afraid, Iran. Be very afraid.” It’s #2 in a series. There are many more to come.