A senior general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp was secretly arrested earlier this month for allegedly spying for Israel, according to a report published Wednesday by New York Times
... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
Citing officials with close ties to the IRGC speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, the report said the arrest of Brig.-Gen. Ali Nasiri marked a growing level of distrust among the country’s big shotship partly attributed to Israel’s alleged recent operations in the country.
Nasiri served as a senior commander in the IRGC Protection of Information Unit, The New York Times reported. His arrest came about two months after a few dozen security officials involved in Iran’s missile program were arrested for allegedly leaking classified information to Israel, the newspaper said.
Reportedly arrested sometime in early June, Nasiri’s arrest came shortly before the replacement of the IRGC’s intelligence chief Hossein Taeb. Taeb, who held the position for more than 12 years, had been tasked with exposing Israel’s spy network in Iran, an unnamed adviser to the Iranian government and an individual affiliated with the IRGC both told the Times.
Taeb’s downfall is seen by some as a prime example of the long-running campaign by Israel to expose failures by the IRGC by allegedly stepping up attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities in recent months and targeting high-level officials inside Iranian territory — all meant to generate conflict between the political and defense establishments in Iran, Israeli officials told the newspaper. The Times reported that Taeb had "seemed untouchable" before a number of recent high-profile killings blamed on Israel and before the apparently foiled Iranian plan to attack Israelis in
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
Israeli intelligence officials who requested anonymity told the newspaper that the thwarting by Israeli and
But the report also said calls for Taeb to be ousted had already been voiced following the arrest of Nasiri and the suspicion of his alleged contact with Israel.
Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...and Israel have been engaged in a years-long shadow war but tensions have ratcheted up following a string of high-profile incidents Tehran has blamed on Jerusalem. A number of members of the IRGC and scientists have been killed in recent weeks, with Iran often pointing the finger at Israel. Iran reportedly suspects Israel killed two Iranian scientists several weeks ago by poisoning their food. The details of the men’s work, the circumstances of their deaths and their ties to the government remain unclear.
Israel has drastically damaged Iran’s intelligence operations, Iranian officials say
[IsraelTimes] NYT: Israeli distrust-sowing moves see Revolutionary Guard intel chief ousted after foiled Turkey plot, senior officer nabbed; Israel ‘infiltrated deep’ into Iran security circles
Israel has deeply infiltrated and drastically shaken Iranian intelligence operations in recent months, a senior Iranian official told the New York Times.
The report published Wednesday cited the recent ousting of the intelligence chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the secret arrest of a senior commander accused of spying for Israel as examples of the growing levels of distrust in Iran.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president of Iran
...The nation is noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence...
who lives in Tehran and still maintains close ties with brass hats, told the newspaper that Israeli operations had seriously damaged trust within the country’s security establishment.
"The security breaches inside Iran and the vast scope of operations by Israel have really undermined our most powerful intelligence organization," he said.
"The strength of our security has always been the bedrock of the Islamic Theocratic
Republicand it has been damaged in the past year," Abtahi said, telling the newspaper that the Iranian defense establishment would now be looking for a new approach.
The report said that unnamed Iranian officials also admitted that "Israel’s spy network has infiltrated deep into the rank and file of Iran’s security circles."
Iranian officials with knowledge of Nasiri’s detention said he was placed in jug earlier this month, around two months after a wave of arrests in which several dozen Iranian Defense Ministry employees were arrested on suspicion of leaking classified materials to Israel.
The report said the leaked information included the design blueprints of missiles.
Taeb was a trusted ally of Iranian Lord High Potentate and Supreme Leader of All He Surveys Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
, and prior to his appointment in the IRGC was notorious for his role in brutal crackdowns on protestors.