Iranians Targeted With Spyware in Lead-Up to War With Israel

More than a dozen Iranians’ mobile phones were targeted with spyware in the months prior to the country’s war with Israel, according to new research.

Miaan Group, a digital human rights organization based in Austin, Texas, found a number of Iranians who received threat notifications from Apple Inc. in the first half of 2025, and researchers believe they only identified a fraction of the total targets. Another round of Iranian spyware targets was discovered by Hamid Kashfi, a Sweden-based cybersecurity researcher and founder of the firm DarkCell.