MESOPOTAMIA NEWS INTEL – Iran: IRGC brigadier general, 122 other members arrested for espionage / by irancommentary 19 May 2019
On May 5, Iranian Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alavi, along with a number of his deputies, held a meeting with Major General Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), reports indicate. The meeting lasted over seven hours, according to sources.
The session, held at the request of regime’s Intelligence Minister, was also attended by his deputies in anti-terrorism affairs, international affairs, anti-espionage, social affairs and technical matters.
Along with Salami, the IRGC was also represented by head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, deputy in strategic intelligence, intelligence/operational deputy of the IRGC chief of staff, intelligence deputy of Fort Tharallah and head of the IRGC counterintelligence branch.
Fort Tharallah is considered one of the IRGC’s main sites and is missioned to monitor/control the security affairs of Tehran, capital of Iran, and other cities in the critical Tehran Province.
The Intelligence Ministry deputies placed forward before the IRGC delegation a large number of documents and evidence regarding a case of espionage inside the IRGC, along with a list of IRGC personnel. The list contained the names of an IRGC brigadier general along with 122 other senior IRGC officers involved in espionage against the Corps. Following extensive talks, IRGC chief Hossein Salami ordered the arrest of the 123 named IRGC officers.
On May 8, the IRGC-affilated Fars news agency reported:
“Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, issued an order appointing Saeed Soleimani as head of the IRGC Inspections Branch… In a farewell ceremony, appreciation and gratitude were extended to Brigadier General Rabie for his service in this post.”
Rabie is the brigadier general whose name topped the list of 123 senior IRGC officers presented by the regime’s Intelligence Ministry to the IRGC intelligence hierarchy. The IRGC Counterintelligence Branch immediately arrested Rabie following the abovementioned farewell ceremony.
The 122 senior IRGC officers, mainly consisting of the IRGC’s chain of command in the cities of Tehran, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Sari and Sanandaj, were arrested in simultaneous raids. Interrogations of the arrested IRGC officers began in the early hours following their apprehension.
It is worth noting that dozens of websites affiliated to Iran’s regime have run identical, word-by-word reports denying the arrest of 123 senior IRGC officers on espionage charges. This further proves the correct nature of these events and the regime’s desperate effort to deny all such matters.
Just recently, IRGC chief Hossein Salami appointed Hossein Taeb, a mullah, as head of IRGC intelligence. Taeb is accused by Iranian dissidents for being involved in the murder of three Iranian Christian priests and bombing a Muslim shrine in the city of Mashhad, both incidents taking place back in the 90s. The regime went on to blame opposition groups for these attacks, only for these accusations to be debunked down the road and all fingers again pointing at the mullahs’ regime.
Following the U.S. State Department’s unprecedented decision to designate the IRGC as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO), the Corps has witnessed its former chief replaced with his deputy and now 123 senior officers arrested for espionage. More IRGC “reshuffling” and further tensions are expected as U.S. President Donald Trump continues his “maximum pressure” policy vis-à-vis the mullahs’ regime in Iran.www.mesop.de