Dolat Bahar Reports the Arrest of the Director General of the Israel Desk at Iran's Ministry of Intelligence in 2012

The Telegram channel 'Dolat Bahar' in Iran reported on Saturday, September 1, that the director general of the Israel Desk in the Counter-Espionage Department of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence was arrested on charges of 'espionage.' According to this channel, which is aligned with former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the senior official of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence was arrested in 2012 when Heydar Moslehi was the Minister of Intelligence in Ahmadinejad's government. The 'Dolat Bahar' channel did not mention the name of the arrested official, the specific charges against him regarding 'espionage' for which country, or the possibility of trial, punishment, and the fate of this individual. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has not yet reacted to this news. This media outlet claims that Israeli agents had the 'greatest influence' during Heydar Moslehi's tenure. The 'Dolat Bahar' channel revealed this brief news in the context of a report related to the deep disagreements several years ago between the former president of Iran and Heydar Moslehi, the then Minister of Intelligence, which led to Ahmadinejad's 11-day sit-in at his home in the spring of 2011. This revelation recalls a series of reports over the past few years regarding the arrest of several individuals in military, religious, and other government sectors in Iran on charges of espionage and collaboration with Israel; even the names of two mourners were mentioned on social media, but Iranian officials and media never confirmed it. Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's Minister of Intelligence, announced on September 1 in an interview with state television that 'dozens of individuals in various government institutions have been arrested on charges of espionage' and simultaneously referred to the case of a former Israeli minister, introducing him as someone who had come to serve in the counter-espionage section of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Earlier this spring, Israel arrested Dr. Gonen Segev, a pediatric surgeon and former minister in its security cabinet, on charges of espionage for Iran and secretly brought him from another African country to Israel, announcing this news at the end of June. Mahmoud Alavi's statements last Tuesday regarding Gonen Segev were immediately reflected in Israeli media, which considered it evidence of Segev's certain espionage for Iran. Segev's trial in Israel is still ongoing, and at the beginning of the trial, he stated that it was he who misled Iranian agents, not the other way around, and that he wanted to obtain information from Iran to pass it to Israel. The recent report from the 'Dolat Bahar' Telegram channel, along with the statements from last week by Iran's Minister of Intelligence and the sensitivity of Israeli media to Mahmoud Alavi's comments about Gonen Segev, are the latest signs of the ongoing intelligence war between Israel and Iran over the past years; two adversaries whose leaders and officials openly threaten each other.