IRGC Intelligence Interrogates Mahan Flight Crew on Suspicion of Spying for Israel

IRGC intelligence began interrogating the Mahan flight crew on suspicion of spying for Israel.

According to reports published on the Israeli website Hayom, the Islamic Republic's security services are extremely concerned after the attack on the Islamic Republic's consulate building in Damascus, to the extent that the crew of the Mahan Air international flight has been interrogated by the IRGC's intelligence service.

A Mahan Air flight attendant said: "When our flight returned from Bangkok, airport security and Mahan security officers took our suitcases, opened them, and inspected each item. Then they asked us to take off our clothes and even inspected our underwear."

It should be noted that the aforementioned interrogation order was issued after the location and killing of a number of IRGC commanders and officers and Hezbollah members in Syria and Lebanon was identified. In other words, the killing of the aforementioned individuals has caused many concerns for the Islamic Republic's officials.

Also, Colonel Gholamreza Shams Nouraei, the security director of Mahan Air, issued an order to begin inspecting flight crews operating on international routes after the attack on the Islamic Republic's consulate building in Damascus. As a result of this order issued by Colonel Nouraei, hundreds of female and male flight attendants and crew members were inspected, and the interrogation of 60 of them by the IRGC intelligence is still ongoing.

Another flight attendant on the flight, who was returning from Thailand and China, said: "After we returned, they brought two buses to search us, one for the female flight attendants and one for the male flight attendants and crew. They forced us into the buses. They brought our luggage and opened it one by one and searched every single item. Then they asked us to take off our clothes and then they searched our clothes, even our underwear, and recorded the whole process."

According to the flight attendant, the flight attendants protested the inspections. “When we asked why they were doing this, they told us it was to prevent unauthorized cell phones from entering Iran,” she said. “But during these inspections, they confiscated every electronic device we had, even the headphones we had bought at the airport. Then they grounded us, ostensibly for buying electronic devices from outside Iran.”

According to a Mahan Airbus A340 maintenance engineer, planes returning from Istanbul in October were also targeted by IRGC intelligence. He said: “They brought buses to carry out the inspections. To calm the flight crew, Mahan Air security told them that the aim was to prevent the smuggling of electronic devices. But this justification was not accepted, because these inspections are always carried out at airport X-ray machines, and this is not the job of Mahan Air security.”

After the aforementioned inspections and interrogations, Mahan Airlines security representatives announced during a security briefing for flight crews that the flight attendants had been grounded. Grounded flight attendants are those who are currently not allowed to fly because they may have collaborated with intelligence agencies of enemy countries, including Israel, because they had electronic devices in their possession that could be used for espionage.