Iran Denies Report it Hacked Israeli Prime Ministerial Hopeful’s Cell Phone

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi has denied Israeli reports that Tehran hacked Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz’s cellphone last year. Qasemi told reporters that Israel had raised the claims “to promote Iranophobia” and “to create a hostile atmosphere” against the Islamic Republic, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA. Israel’s Channel 12 news reported the hack last week, saying Iranian intelligence had access to all the phone’s contents. A follow-up report a couple of days later indicated that no sensitive security information had been on the mobile device. Gantz’s party has asked Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit to investigate who leaked the story to the press, accusing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and citing political motivation. The prime minister has denied knowing about the hack before the media reports. On March 19, the Prime Minister’s Office rejected a Saudi Arabian media report saying the phones of Netanyahu’s wife and son had been hacked by Iran. Gantz’s center-left Blue and White is currently neck and neck in the polls with Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud.