Mohsen Rezaei Claims: American Official's Visit is 'Infiltration Project' to Iran

Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and current secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, claimed on Tuesday, March 2, that the former head of the CIA has recently become 'responsible for infiltration in Iran' and 'visited Iran in June, touring all universities and identifying them.' According to Fars News Agency, Rezaei made this statement at the fourth national conference on defense sciences and engineering held at Imam Hussein University. He further stated that 'this individual is the first person to visit this country after the opening of space in the former Soviet Union, and in the last two or three years, he has also traveled to Cuba after the Cuba and America events, and he is the first person to visit Iran after the JCPOA.' Tasnim News Agency, which is also close to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that Rezaei mentioned this person as 'one of the CIA agents' and added, 'We will reveal many documents about him in the future.' The former commander did not mention the name of this 'CIA agent' and provided no further details about him. While Rezaei has made these allegations about the American official's 'infiltration project,' he currently holds no intelligence or security position in the Islamic Republic, and no intelligence officials in Hassan Rouhani's government have commented on this matter. However, Rezaei considers this case as 'an example of infiltration in the post-JCPOA era,' adding that 'infiltration after the JCPOA is serious.' The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and his supporters, especially after the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers (JCPOA), have repeatedly warned about 'enemy infiltration,' particularly from the U.S. Regarding the use of 'enemy' software capabilities in Tehran, Tasnim reported that the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council referred to the recent elections for the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts, where reformists made significant gains, stating, 'The enemy launched a soft war against us in the recent elections and came to the scene with such cyber and software capabilities that it was very strange.' Mohsen Rezaei continued, 'This side introduces a list, and the enemy changes people's minds with calculated threats, and this change is such that even state television cannot counter it. For example, the software capabilities available in Tehran are certainly not present in the counties, and the enemy exploited this issue to achieve its goals.' Rezaei's use of the term 'list' refers to the so-called 'English list' that was frequently mentioned by some principlists and officials close to Ali Khamenei in the weeks leading up to the elections on Friday, March 7. These officials claim that Britain has a list of 'preferred' candidates in Iran, which it supports through BBC Persian programs and discourages people from voting for their opponents. Ayatollah Khamenei stated on February 17 that 'the English radio is giving instructions to the people of Iran, telling them whom to vote for and whom not to vote for.' Regarding the engineering capabilities of the 'enemy,' Rezaei asserted, 'We are facing enemies whose sciences and engineering techniques are a hundred years ahead of us; the main problem of the enemies with us is not the atomic bomb but rather nuclear technology and advancement.' He added, 'In the issue of missile construction, their problem is not with missile construction itself, but rather with our progress in missile construction, and our struggle is against powers that have monopolized engineering sciences and techniques in the world.' Previously, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, had stated among students at Tehran University that 'America can disable all our military systems with one bomb' and that 'America fears the resistance of the Iranian people, not its military system.' However, Zarif's remarks sparked widespread reactions among critics of Hassan Rouhani's government, with Haidar Moslehi, former intelligence minister, calling him 'ignorant.' A group of members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also issued a written warning to the President of Iran, calling for a reconsideration of Zarif's continued service as foreign minister.