A new shortwave numbers station appeared the day the bombs fell. Nobody knows who's running it.

Numbers stations, as they’re known, have been used by intelligence services since World War I to communicate with agents in the field, but have become increasingly rare in the digital age. With the Internet shut down by authorities in Iran, this Cold War relic has found new life. According to one group of aficionados that tracks these age-old spy tools, it’s the first new numbers station in years.

  • microfiche [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    19·
    1 day ago

    while early reception reports were consistent with a Middle Eastern transmitter, some direction-finding results suggest the signal may originate not from Iran but from somewhere closer to the Red Sea. That raises the possibility that an Israeli, Western, or Arab intelligence service may be broadcasting into Iran rather than out of it.

    also :

    An Italian ham radio operator, writing under the name Iz0kba Lorenzo, argues for Iranian origin, citing the signal’s strength across Southern and Central Europe, its frequency range—commonly used for military and diplomatic communications in the Middle East—and a voice cadence that experienced monitors say resembles known Iranian utility transmissions. This suggests that Iranian intelligence may be giving orders to agents abroad.