Ministry of Intelligence Responds to Claims of IRGC Intelligence Role in Various Cases

The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has denied claims made by a senior official of the IRGC Intelligence Organization regarding the role of this organization in several operations, including the arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi and the 'neutralization of a terrorist operation' in February of this year, as well as the prisoner exchange with the United States. In statements published on Sunday, March 8, from 'an informed source' in the Ministry of Intelligence to several domestic news agencies, it was emphasized that the operation to arrest 'a terrorist team' in February of this year, as well as the operation to arrest Abdolmalek Rigi, was carried out 'exclusively' by the Ministry of Intelligence. This official also announced that the 'management' of negotiations regarding the release of several Iranian-Americans was 'assigned by the Supreme National Security Council to the Ministry of Intelligence,' and all stages of these negotiations were conducted by a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence in cooperation with the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the legal services office of the presidency. These statements were made in response to claims made on March 5 by Hossein Nejat, the deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, during a speech. Mr. Nejat claimed that eight non-Iranian individuals, whose recent arrests were announced by the Minister of Intelligence, were detained 'with the high intelligence oversight of the IRGC,' and that during the arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi, an 'IRGC intelligence force was sitting next to him,' and in addition, the receipt of '1.4 billion dollars from the United States' in exchange for the release of Jason Rezaian was done with the 'martyr-like efforts of IRGC intelligence forces.' The claims made by the deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization regarding these cases and the denial of this organization's role by the Ministry of Intelligence official once again highlights the parallel security actions within the governmental structure in Iran. The IRGC Intelligence section, which was transformed into the IRGC Intelligence Organization by a decree from the Supreme Leader in 2009, has pursued actions parallel to the activities of the Ministry of Intelligence in recent decades, and such actions have faced criticism. In recent years, especially after the 2009 presidential election, many political activists, human rights activists, and journalists have been detained by the IRGC Intelligence forces, and in this regard, in June 2014, Ali Motahari stated that 'the IRGC should not interfere in the work of the Ministry of Intelligence.' However, in September 2015, Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the IRGC, emphasized that 'all military agencies' in the world have systems to deal with intelligence attacks, and acknowledged that this force 'has powerful intelligence networks inside and outside the country.' Recently, after the Minister of Intelligence requested the Attorney General to announce the names of dual-nationality managers to this ministry, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, stated that 'one of the credible sources' provided a list of dual-nationality managers, and he sent them to the Ministry of Intelligence without reviewing these documents. It seems that Mr. Montazeri's reference to 'a credible source' may be the IRGC Intelligence Organization, which, in cases such as inquiries related to electoral candidates, sends reports to the Guardian Council without being legally among the inquiry authorities. The Ministry of Intelligence's public relations also denied reports about the suicide of Mahdis Lababi Mirghavami, a master's student at Sahand University of Tabriz and a resident of Kermanshah, due to 'the assault by agents of the Kermanshah Intelligence Department.' This agency emphasized in a statement that she 'had no history of arrest, summons, or detention in the Ministry of Intelligence and the Kermanshah Intelligence Department' and committed suicide on February 26 due to 'some family problems.' Some websites had previously reported that Mahdis Mirghavami committed suicide after being summoned to the Kermanshah Intelligence Department and detained there for two days due to 'sexual assault by intelligence agents.'