New York Times: Former IRGC Protection Commander Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Israel

The American newspaper The New York Times reported on Wednesday that a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Nasiri, was arrested this month on suspicion of spying for Israel.

The New York Times, citing sources close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who asked not to be named, reported the arrest of Brigadier General Ali Nasiri, the former commander of the Guards' security, and wrote that the arrest reflects a growing level of distrust in the country's leadership following numerous recent operations attributed to Israel in Iran.

The American newspaper further added that Brigadier General Ali Nasiri was a senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence protection unit who held a key position.

The New York Times says that the news of Brigadier General Ali Nasiri's arrest comes two months after the arrest of dozens of officials related to Iran's missile program on suspicion of leaking classified information to Israel.

According to this report, Brigadier General Ali Nasiri was arrested in early June (four weeks ago), shortly before the dismissal of Hossein Taeb, the head of IRGC intelligence.

The news of Hossein Taeb's dismissal from the IRGC Intelligence Organization was published in the early days of July, while the entire last week of June was filled with reports and comments from Israeli officials about concerns that Iran was "planning" to kidnap or kill Israeli tourists in Turkey, as revenge for the death of Hassan Sayyad Khodai.

Two days after Mr. Taeb's dismissal, the IRGC's public relations department announced on July 4 that Hassan Mashrouifar had replaced Ebrahim Jabbari as commander of the Guardian Corps.

The "Guardian Corps" is a special unit responsible for the physical protection of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader's Residence, the Supreme Leader's Office, and its subordinate buildings, with a total staff of more than 12,000 people.

The IRGC Intelligence Protection Organization, headed by Majid Khademi, is one of the IRGC's intelligence agencies, which is responsible for tasks such as "countering espionage within the IRGC, preventing the infiltration of currents that are not aligned with the IRGC's policy, preventing confidential information from reaching outside the IRGC, and conducting political and security oversight of the commanders and personnel of this armed force."

In previous years, reports had been published regarding Brigadier General Ali Nasiri's escape from Iran.

However, in response to these reports, Brigadier General Ali Nasiri denied the news about his escape from Iran in an interview with Tasnim in May 2019, saying that he had attended the farewell and introduction ceremony of the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC at the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that his image and video were also published in the media.

Regarding the reasons for the spread of rumors about his escape from Iran in foreign media, Brigadier General Ali Nasiri said: "It seems that this falsehood was carried out because my previous position had security sensitivities."

Brigadier General Ali Nasiri added that he was dismissed from the "Guards of the IRGC" in May 2019, and his dismissal ceremony was also held.

Source: Radio Farda