For more than a decade, he was a feared presence in Iran and presided over a vast intelligence agency. He shattered domestic dissent and political rivals and expanded covert operations across Iran’s borders to target foreign dissidents and enemies.
Hossein Taeb, a 59-year-old priest and intelligence director of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, seemed out of control.
According to officials and analysts in both countries, it was until he was suddenly dismissed from his position last week, and a relentless campaign to undermine Iran’s security by Israel targeting its officials and military installations. Was a victim of.
Iran’s unsuccessful efforts targeting Turkish Israeli citizens who caused an embarrassing diplomatic crisis with Tehran’s regional ally Ankara were briefed on Iran’s plot demanding anonymity to discuss confidentiality and intelligence. A topic that eventually became unbalanced, according to Israeli intelligence.
According to former Iranian vice president and priest Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was expelled by conservatives in 2009, Tehran’s dismissal is a new leadership, strategy and protocol to combat the threat from Israel. It was Tehran’s approval that a reset was required. However, it maintains a close relationship with top officials.
“Security breaches within Iran and extensive Israeli activity have really undermined our most powerful intelligence agencies,” Abtahi said on a phone call from Tehran. “Our security strength has always been the foundation of Islamic republic and has been damaged in the last year.”
After the senior commander of the Brig Revolutionary Guard Corps, he called for the expulsion of Mr. Teb amid growing distrust of Iranian leaders. General Ali Nasiri was secretly arrested on suspicion of spying on Israel, according to those who have close ties with senior Revolutionary Guard officials and those who have knowledge of arrests. They and other Iranian officials cited in this article demanded anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on record about internal discussions.
Officials with Iran’s mission to the United Nations said they did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Dozens of employees of the Pentagon’s missile development program were arrested two months after being arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential military information, including a missile design blueprint, to Israel, according to Iranian officials familiar with the attack. General Nasiri was detained.
Over the past year, Israel has increased the scope and frequency of attacks within Iran. This includes nuclear and military installations protected by Mr. Tebu’s organization.
One of the Israeli officials reveals part of the strategy of the Revolutionary Guard’s failure in the Secret War with Israel, hoping that it will cause conflict between political leaders and defense and intelligence agencies. Said that it would accompany.
On Monday, three Iranian steel plants, one of which was state-owned Khuzestan Steel, were hit by a cyberattack, forcing one to shut down its production line. The three factories hit on Monday are the major suppliers of steel to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Western intelligence officials.
A group of hackers known as Gonjeshke Darande claimed responsibility. The same group claimed responsibility for another cyberattack that in November disabled gas stations across Iran and said US officials were connecting to Israel. Israeli officials refused to confirm the cause of the attack.
Israeli spy networks have penetrated deeply into Iran’s security forces ranks and files, and Iranian officials warned last year that officials should be afraid of their lives, according to Iranian media reports. I admitted that I was there.
In an interview, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s senior adviser Keren Hajioff said the strategy for Iran is part of Bennett’s “octopus” doctrine.
“This doctrine is a strategic shift from the past where Israel focused on Iran’s surrogate’tentacles’ throughout the region of Lebanon, Syria and Gaza,” she said. Her new tactic is “Paradigm shift: now we go straight to our heads,” she added.
Israeli agents carried out assassinations with remote-controlled robots and drive-by shooting, flew drones to sensitive missiles and nuclear facilities, and kidnapped and interrogated agents of the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. Tehran also suspects Israel has killed two scientists in May.
Mr. Teb was appointed head of intelligence for the Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2009 after national unrest over the controversial presidential election. He was previously the chief of Basij, a plain-clothes militia notorious for attacking and sometimes killing protesters.
Taeb carried out a brutal systematic crackdown to promote intelligence from an ambiguous security unit to one of the country’s most feared espionage activities.
Recently, Mr. Teb has been pressured to eradicate a network of Israeli espionage in Iran and fight back, according to a government adviser and another member of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
General Nasiri, arrested in June, served as senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence protection force, and was tasked with overseeing and overseeing the activities of the organization.
His arrest, coupled with repeated attacks by Israel, has rattled Tehran’s leaders, according to Iranian officials who know the situation. Some have begun quietly calling on Mr. Tebu to resign or dismiss, officials said.
According to security guards, Mr. Teb demanded another year to rectify the security breach in his post.
Then came a plan to target the Israelis in Turkey.
On June 18, Israeli intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose intelligence data, said Mossad believed that Iran was planning an attack on Israeli tourists and civilians.
Israeli Counterterrorism Headquarters has raised the alert to Turkey to the highest level and has told all Israelis in Istanbul to lock them in hotel rooms.
Intelligence officials said Israel provided information to Turkey and shared information showing that Mr. Teb was behind the plot.
Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said last week that Israeli claims that Tehran had planned to attack Israelis in Turkey were “ridiculous” and “preliminary to undermine relations between the two Islamic countries. The scenario was cooked in Israel. “
Turkey has arrested five Iranians and three Turkish citizens suspected of being involved in the project, and the identities and addresses of two pistols, two silencers, documents, and individuals allegedly on the target list. Turkish news media reported that they had seized digital materials including. Turkish authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Bennett said last week that “cooperation at all levels” with Turkey has been successful. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevrut Chabsogur said in a press conference with Israeli counterpart Yale Rapid on Thursday that Turkey would not tolerate “scoring” and “terrorist attacks” on the soil.
A regional alliance between Arab countries and Israel was formed against Iran, and the crisis threatened to bring Turkey, Tehran’s main regional ally, closer to the Israeli camp. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdrahian met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mr. Kabsoguru in Turkey on Monday to discuss the crisis.
“Turkey was a turning point for Teb. It made Iran look incompetent and increased its vulnerability, and they eventually had to drive him away,” said the Arab world’s democracy. Iranian expert Omid Memarian said. Washington.
Some conservative lawmakers in Iran told the press that Mr. Teb’s replacement was not unusual and his term was simply over.But one Tweet The dismissal of Mr. Teb was one of the most important in the history of Islamic republic.
Mr. Teb replaced General Mohammad Kazemi, the current head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Information Protection Unit. Mr. Teb has been transferred to the position of advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, not Ayatollah Alien. It was more typical for one of Ayatollah’s best friends.
On Saturday, Iran also replaced Ayatollah Alienai and the head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which provides security to his family, and on Monday a new head of the Guard’s protection intelligence unit was announced. Further modifications of the senior commander are expected, according to analysts.
“13 years later, we needed a leader with new blood to manage the future,” Hossein Darrylian, an analyst at the Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in an interview.
“Security and intelligence are expected to be stronger, and Iran’s enemies should expect a harder blow,” he added.
Safak Timur contributed a report from Istanbul, Turkey.