Did a hit espionage thriller predict the Hezbollah pager attack?

In ‘Tehran,’ an Israeli spy uses a remote detonator to explode a cell phone held by an Iranian general

Actress Niv Sultan portrays an Israeli spy on the hit series <i>Tehran</i>.

Actress Niv Sultan portrays an Israeli spy on the hit series Tehran. Courtesy of Apple TV+

By Benyamin Cohen September 18, 2024

A sworn enemy of Israel hears his cell phone ring, and answers it. On the other end is a Mossad agent who hits a button, detonating the phone and blowing up everyone in the vicinity.

The scenario sounds a tad similar to that which unfolded in Beirut on Tuesday, when hundreds of pagers equipped with explosives simultaneously blew up, killing at least 11 and injuring nearly 3,000 people. More devices — including walkie-talkies — exploded in Lebanon on Wednesday.

Hezbollah began widespread use of pagers after Oct. 7, out of fear that Israeli intelligence officials could track their cell phones. Perhaps they were nervous because they watched the final episode of the second season of Tehran on Apple TV+.

In the series, an Israeli spy named Tamar Rabinyan — played by Niv Sultan, a former IDF soldier — goes undercover in Iran. In the second season, her mission is to assassinate Qasem Mohammadi, an Iranian general. Her attempt to poison him fails; so does boobytrapping his sports car. (At the last minute, Mohammdi’s son gets behind the wheel, and dies instead.)

At that same son’s funeral, Mohammadi hears his cell phone ring and answers it. The ensuing blast kills him, and his bodyguards.

The writers of the show, which won the award for best drama at the 2021 International Emmy Awards, had real-life inspiration for that plotline. In January, 1996, a remotely detonated cell phone killed Yahya Ayyash, Hamas’ chief bombmaker. (In retaliation, suicide bombers killed 78 Israelis in the two months after the assassination.)

Israel has a longstanding policy of not commenting on such assassinations, and does not confirm its role in targeted killings in other countries.

This silence has created a gap for Israeli TV and filmmakers — many of whom have themselves served in the army — to show the public a Hollywood simulacrum of the extraordinary extent of Israeli military creativity in executing such killings. But there’s creative license involved. In the show, Tamar detonates the cell phone bomb from a nearby location — so close she can hear the bomb go off. That makes for good television. In real life, that button is likely pushed from hundreds of miles away.

Art imitates life

Tehran was co-created by Moshe Zonder, a writer on the hit Netflix series Fauda, which is also about undercover Israeli agents. Tehran debuted in the U.S. in September 2020, and received positive reviews. It has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The episode with the cell phone bomb premiered on Apple TV+ on June 17, 2022. A new episode has not aired since.

As for what happens next in the series? Well, it has been renewed. The third season was filmed in Athens in 2023, with actor Hugh Laurie joining the cast as a nuclear plant supervisor. Series star Niv Sultan even teased a promo on social media, weeks before Oct. 7.

But the release of the third season was ultimately delayed due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. And writing on the fourth season was paused because it reportedly contained similarities between the script and the war itself.

There’s still no end in sight for the Israel-Hamas war, which will reach its one-year mark on Oct. 7. And with a potential new warfront with Hezbollah in the north, it could be quite a while before the fictitious Israeli spies return to TV.

Benyamin Cohen is news director at the Forward. He is the author of two books, My Jesus Year and The Einstein Effect, and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post. He lives in West Virginia with his three dogs, a cat and a flock of chickens known as the Co-Hens.

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