Iran’s intelligence apparatus vulnerable to foreign infiltration

Islam Mohamed

Defending his ministry’s performance, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that his forces had disbanded more than 100 terrorist groups and confiscated large amount of explosives across. However, Alavi’s defence to his ministry’s performance has backfired. Observers interested in the Iranian affairs maintained that the intelligence minister did not tell the whole story. They said that the security of Iran was punctured and vulnerable to foreign infilitrations. The Iranian minister is also accused of exaggerating the potentials and capabilities of his forces.

Iran’s intelligence minister was also ridiculed for alleging that his security forces outperformed most other global counterparts, including France’s. Alavi’s statement coincided with the announcement that his forces had disbanded three terrorist groups and arrested 15 elements in Iran’s southwestern  city of Ahvaz, which is home to disenfranchised Arab minority. The Iranian intelligence minister said that the terrorists were planning suicidal attacks on Shi’a shrines in different Iranian cities.

The Iranian security authorities launched crackdowns on the Arab community in Ahvaz following a deadly attack on a military parade in this restive Iranian province. At least 25 people were killed and 60 wounded 60.

On the other hand, Teheran is accused of sponsoring terrorism regionally and internationally. Dr. Nourhan Ahmed Anwar, professor of Iranian Studies at the Menofia University’s College of Arts, said that the Mullah regime in Iran was supporting militant groups across the world. In a statement she gave to The Reference, Dr. Anwar dismissed as baseless Alavi’s defence to his forces. She said: “The Iranian intelligence minister is attempting to raise the morale of the Iranian people ahead of the tough sanctions Washington will announce next month.”

The professor confirmed to The Reference that the Iranian intelligence service was vulnerable, being infiltrated by foreign intelligence agencies, including the Israeli Mossad. Substantiating her statement, she said a senior official at the Israeli Section at the Iranian intelligence agency was executed by firing squad for providing the Israelis with Iran’s top nuclear secrets.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and senior officers from its Quds Force were added by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait to their lists of people and organisations suspected of involvement in terrorism.

The Saudi state news agency, SPA, said that Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, and the force’s Hamed Abdollahi and Abdul Reza Shahlai had been included on the terrorism list. Riyadh accused Soleimani, Abdollahi and Shahlai of attempting to bomb the Saudi embassy in Washington 2011. Imposing sanctions on the three suspects, the U.S. Treasury Department said that they were linked to a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir.