Israel Hacked Iranian Prayer App, Sent Notifications To Urge Revolutionary Guards To Defect

Tehran: The neutralization of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint military operation by the United States and Israel has drawn a fresh wave of uncertainity in the Middle East. Apart from the military action which wiped out several top Iranian leaders and commanders, it has now come to light that Israel also hacked a popular Iranian prayer app, among a series of cyber operations carried out in the Middle Eastern nation, before the internet blackout.

The BadeSaba Calendar app, which is widely used by Muslims in tracking prayer times and has more than five million downloads from the Google Play store alone was targeted by Israel, hacked into, to display anti-regime messages, in support of the Iranian people.

The Jerusalem Post mentioned one message which read in Persian, “For the freedom of Iranian brothers and sisters, this is a call for all repressive forces - push your weapons aside or join the liberation forces. Only this way can you save your life for Iran.”

According to reports, notifications were sent out to millions of users on Saturday morning, which called on Iranian military personnel, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,  to defect and join efforts to liberate the country.

One of the messages even seemed to mimic US President Donald Trump's Truth Social post saying, “Help is on its way.” The notification read, “Help has arrived.”

Back in January, Trump had said, “Iranian Patriots, keep protesting – take over your institutions! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”

Apart from this hack, several news sites, including the state news agency IRNA, were taken over to post content about the attacks, the Iranian state media reported. 

"A terrifying hour for the security forces of the Ayatollahs' regime; the IRGC and the Basij have suffered a crippling blow," a message on the IRNA's front page read. 

How is Iran Retaliating

After the United States and the Israeli military operation on Tehran, Iran's has conducted retaliatory strikes in Qatar, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. Drones and missiles were also fired towards Tel Aviv, most of which were intercepted and shot down. 

Israel has hit back with strikes targeting Iran's ballistic missiles and aerial defence systems.

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