"Arrest and investigation of the case" of 12 dual-national managers in Iran

Despite the Iranian Minister of Intelligence's emphasis that "there are no dual-nationality managers in the government," a member of parliament has claimed that 12 of these managers have been arrested and are currently being investigated.

On Tuesday (November 15), the report of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission regarding the request to examine the status of dual nationals and green card holders among managers and senior officials of the Islamic Republic, as well as "identifying legal gaps in this matter," was read in the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

After reading the report, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, a representative of the people of Shahinshahr, said: "Fortunately, a number of managers with dual citizenship who had infiltrated important management and decision-making parts of the system were arrested and convicted, or their cases are ongoing."

The manifestation of "enemy influence" in the issue of dual citizenship

Sensitivity regarding dual-national managers and officials increased especially after Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, repeatedly emphasized the danger of "enemy infiltration" into the system's decision-making apparatus and called on everyone to wage "greater jihad" against foreign influence and attacks.

In one of his last speeches in this regard, on May 26 of this year, in a meeting with members of the Assembly of Experts, the Leader of the Islamic Republic emphasized the dangers of the "enemy" and "foreigners" and said that the main goal of the enemies of the Islamic Republic "at this stage of the soft war is to pave the way for the system to be emptied of internal elements of power."

Following Khamenei's repeated warnings, attacks on the Rouhani government, the so-called moderate faction, and media outlets close to them intensified. For example, on September 21, 12 members of parliament issued a reminder to the ministers of intelligence and Islamic guidance, calling for a serious confrontation with "the flow of hundreds of Western spy services infiltrating newspapers and media chains."

Hossein Ali Haji Deligani was one of the signatories of this notice.

At the same time, the issue of “enemy influence” also gripped government managers and officials. On August 16, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi revealed the arrest of a “dual-nationality suspect” in Tehran and said that this person had been linked to the “British intelligence service.” The Tehran Prosecutor did not mention the role of this person in major government decisions, but emphasized the repeated statements of the Leader of the Islamic Republic regarding “the need for officials to be vigilant against enemy influence, especially after the JCPOA agreement.”

Then, Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, a conservative member of parliament, claimed that this “spy” was an American agent infiltrating the “nuclear negotiating team.” The Mashhad representative in parliament introduced this person as Abdolrasoul Dori Esfahani, the head of banking affairs for the nuclear negotiating team.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the news shortly after. On September 25, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi called Karimi Ghoddoosi’s statements “based on the presence of the arrested person in Zarif’s delegation on his recent trip to Turkey” a “baseless and baseless claim.” He also strongly criticized Karimi Ghoddoosi for “hastily and without any preliminary investigation, making false claims” for political gain.

After the Foreign Ministry, the head of Iran’s nuclear expert team also rejected the accusation of espionage against Darry Esfahani, calling it “an insult to Iran’s intelligence and security services.” Hamid Baeidinejad wrote in a detailed response to the accusation that “according to reliable information, Mr. Darry is not a British citizen at all.”

Political analysts see the constant threat of “enemy infiltration,” especially after Iran’s nuclear deal with the West, as a manifestation of a power struggle among the Iranian leadership. Khamenei’s hard-line supporters, meanwhile, were and are concerned that implementing the JCPOA would strengthen the government supported by reformists and moderates and jeopardize the position of the Islamic Republic’s leader.

In his speech in parliament today, Haji Deligani tried to portray his remarks as a non-partisan issue and beyond the power struggle. He said: “The purpose of the investigation is simply to clarify the situation of officials and senior managers with dual citizenship, and it has no intention of targeting or condemning individuals from a specific movement or organization. Rather, it is simply to clarify and eliminate the threat that they are now trying to create in the country, and in some places this platform has already been created.”

Implied accusation of espionage against all “dual nationals”

The Shahinshahr representative in the parliament considered the “dangers” of dual citizenship among government managers to include the fact that “instead of loving their homeland, they develop love for a foreign country within themselves.” Another danger, in his opinion, is that in “special circumstances and dangers for the country… they are not willing to take risks and are not willing to stand up and defend the special interests of our country.” Haji Deligani gave his third reason for defending the investigation into the status of dual-citizen managers and officials with green cards as follows: “When these people want to enter our country, they are not viewed as citizens of a foreign country and the necessary formalities are not observed, which could pose risks for the country.”

This MP went even further and implicitly considered the goal of all dual-national managers to be espionage: "Because these managers consider themselves Iranian, they approach the country's officials and even collect their personal information and relay it to foreigners."

Arrest of the “second person” from the nuclear team

In addition to naming Dori Esfahani as one of the defendants in the "espionage" and "enemy infiltration" case, whose "wife and children are in Canada," who received a "merit badge" from the country's highest executive authority, and who "is now free after posting bail and being placed in the country," Haji Deligani spoke about the arrest of another person who "was on the negotiators' legal team and was arrested for espionage and collaboration with hostile governments."

The Shahinshahr representative also mentioned Sirous Nasseri, a former member of the nuclear negotiating team, saying: "It is said that he also wants to obtain a third citizenship. It has been a year since the judicial system issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of espionage, but he has fled the country."

On June 12, 2019, a conservative media outlet claimed that an arrest warrant had been issued for Sirous Nasseri. The next day, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei denied the news, saying, "He has not been arrested and no arrest warrant has been issued for him."

Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, while asking the judiciary to clarify "how many people with dual citizenship had infiltrated important management and decision-making parts of the system in the last two years," said: "Fortunately, a number of them have been arrested and convicted, or their cases are ongoing. The statistics we have are 12 people."

Although Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi had said that the continuation of the work of dual-nationality managers would be prevented, he also announced in a detailed interview with the state-run IRNA news agency in mid-November of this year that the issue of dual-nationality managers was one of the scenarios that the opposition had prepared to weaken the government; otherwise, "there would be no dual-nationality managers in the government."

Source: DW