A Mysterious Numbers Station Is Broadcasting Through the Iran War

[littlemissmartypants]

First heard as US and Israeli strikes on Iran began, the shortwave broadcast has since been traced to a US military base in Germany—but its purpose and its operator remain unclear.

Ruchi Kumar
Security
Mar 23, 2026 2:59 PM

“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.

Over the weekend, Priyom said it had identified the likely origin of the broadcast. Using multilateration and triangulation techniques, the group traced the signal to a shortwave transmission facility inside a US military base in Böblingen, southwest of Stuttgart, Germany.

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https://www.wired.com/story/a-mysterious-numbers-station-is-broadcasting-through-the-iran-war/