Shamkhani: I Agree That Recent Arrests Are Political

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council stated that he agrees with the view that the recent arrests were made for the purpose of "political settling of scores," while the head of the National Security Commission of Parliament believes the recent arrests by the IRGC are not political. On Saturday night, November 15, Ali Shamkhani was hosted on Iran's first television network, where he was asked about his reaction to the recent arrests and the "issue of American infiltration" following the nuclear agreement. In response to a question from the television host regarding the arrest of several media activists on charges of "infiltration and public opinion manipulation," and the opinion that these arrests were made after the JCPOA with the intent of "political settling of scores and exaggeration," he stated, "I agree with this view." In contrast to these remarks, on Sunday, Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security Commission of Parliament, told Mehr News Agency that "the speculation that these arrests are political and related to the JCPOA is not a fair and realistic judgment." He reminded that "besides the Ministry of Intelligence, one of the missions and responsibilities of the IRGC is to maintain the country's security, and given this legal structure, the arrest of some infiltrating journalists was certainly not without reason." Reports indicate that from the morning of November 11 until now, Eisa Saharkhiz, the former director of press at the Ministry of Culture during Mohammad Khatami's presidency, Ehsan Mazandarani, the editor-in-chief of Farhikhtegan newspaper, Afrin Chitsaz, a columnist for Iran newspaper, and Saman Safarzadeh, a journalist for Andisheh Pouya magazine, have been arrested, and the IRGC has introduced the detainees as members of a Western infiltration network. On Wednesday, November 13, Ebrahim Raisi, the Attorney General of Iran, referred to the arrested journalists as "an infiltration network in the media and social networks" as well as "spies and mercenaries working for the Americans." Meanwhile, Hassan Rouhani, the President, stated the day before that "we must seriously and realistically combat any foreign infiltration" and "no one should play with the word infiltration." Shamkhani emphasized that the worst way to combat infiltration is to "partisan it." He posed the question, "Is every contact with the outside a sign of infiltration?" and then reminded that "the worst way to combat infiltration is to reduce the issue of infiltration to a partisan matter to eliminate a rival, something that has occurred at times recently." He assessed the discussion of "infiltration" as important and stated: "If we only take the fight against bad hijab out of the cultural blitz that creates a broad intellectual impact, this is a reduction of the leader's view. Infiltration and discord are two issues that the leader has expressed in various forms after the JCPOA, and he is right." He added: "The historical conditions are such that they are pursuing discord and infiltration based on weakening. The existence of infiltration through the media is a principle, but we should not place them in the service of partisan confrontation. We should not accuse anyone beyond what they have done." The Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council also reminded that "greeting a cousin or planning breakfast is not infiltration; these are actually personal grievances and are not correct. These are mistakes." Shamkhani also mentioned that while they are not opposed to hamburgers and fried chicken, they are against "breaking taboos," adding that "the entry of KFC and McDonald's could lead to the formation of black diplomacy."