“TAVAJOH! TAVAJOH! TAVAJOH!” a man’s voice announces, before going on to narrate a string of numbers in no apparent order, slowly and rhythmically. After nearly two hours, the calls of “Attention!” in Persian stop, only to resume again hours later.
The broadcast has been playing twice a day on a shortwave frequency since the start of the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28.
According to Priyom, an organization which tracks and analyses global military and intelligence use of shortwave radio, using established radio-location techniques, the broadcast was first heard as the US bombing of Iran began. It has since played on the 7910 kHz shortwave frequency like clockwork—at 02.00 UTC and again at 18.00 UTC.
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Number stations are shortwave radio broadcasts that play strings of numbers or codes that sound random—like the one now heard in Iran. “It is an encrypted radio message used by foreign intelligence services, often as part of a complex operation by intelligence agencies and militaries,” says Maris Goldmanis, a Latvian historian and avid numbers stations researcher.
Number stations are most commonly associated with espionage. “For intelligence agencies, it is important to communicate with their spies to gather intelligence,” says John Sipher, a former US intelligence officer who served 28 years in the CIA’s National Clandestine Service. “This is not always possible in person due to political constraints or conflict. This is where number stations come in.”
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Because the broadcasts are encrypted and designed to be covert, those details may remain unclear for years, Goldmanis says. The structured nature of the transmission—its fixed schedule and consistent use of frequencies—further suggests it is part of a planned operation.
One theory is that the broadcasts originate from Iran itself, as part of its wartime intelligence efforts—particularly if traditional covert communication channels have been disrupted. “Such a station would have appeared if the Iranian intelligence service had lost its usual way of covert communication with the Iranian agents abroad because of the Israeli and US strikes and was now required to use a shortwave radio to send messages and instructions,” he says.
However, another more widely backed theory is that perhaps the US, Israel, or an Iranian opposition group in exile that is based in Europe is using shortwave transmitters to reach allies inside. “There is also a suggestion that these broadcasts are used to confuse and distract the Iranian security,” Goldmanis adds.
