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| Iran has 40,000 spies in Arab states: ex-agent | |
| 2009-10-06 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] A former spy of Iran's Revolutionary Guards reveals Monday the existence of thousands of intelligence cells for the Islamic Republic in most Arab countries, especially those in the Arab Gulf. The former undercover agent, who declined to be named for security reasons, said there are 40,000 Iranian spies in the Arab Gulf states, 3,000 of them in Kuwait alone. He added that many are mercenaries paid for limited services while others are regular employees in the Revolutionary Guards.
The former spy denied that Iran's intelligence cells in the Arab states are sleeper and said they regularly work amassing information on Gulf states' military capabilities, infrastructure and key economic institutions. "These cells are woven with skill similar to the weaving of a Farsi carpet; they are often quintets of four members plus a commander and no one of them is aware of another's tasks and missions," he said, adding that Iran spends "extensive amounts of money" on its foreign intelligence. The spy, from the Arab --majority city of Ahwaz, told Alarabiya.net that he started his job as an undercover agent for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards two years before the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988. "I was deceived in the beginning by slogans that the Islamic Republic of Iran was defending Islam," he said explaining his reasons for joining intelligence. While in service his main job was to monitor and provide information on the Iranian opposition leaders in the Arab Gulf states, he said. The former undercover agent is from the Arab-majority city of Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan, which is the home of the Canada-based Ahwaz Arab Renaissance Party (AARP) advocating resistance to the Iranian government. He said he decided to give up spying when he "realized how authorities discriminated against Ahwazi soldiers fighting for Iran in the war against Iraq," adding that "wounded Arab Ahwazi soldiers were often given treatment on the ground, whereas those Iranians of Farsi origin were treated on hospital beds." When he submitted resignation to Iranian intelligence authorities it was turned down many times and was kept under surveillance for five years before was finally discharged and allowed to reside in a foreign a country, he told Alarabiya.net. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Pfft. These are Arabs. I'm willing to bet 80% of these "spies" are people who are just waiting for somebody else to "recruit" them. It's free money, you just tell the handler what he wants to hear, you get some cash, and if things ever go to shit, hey, you can get in good with the current authorities by ratting the handler out. They're tribals. They'll lie to and cheat anyone who isn't part of the clan. And that's the moral, ethical ones - the other guys'll rat out their own kin. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-10-06 19:24 |
| #6 no. Have a nice day :) |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2009-10-06 13:28 |
| #5 #4 to subvert and dominate it, and to keep tabs on US forces there, the oil industry, etc. I guess. For starters. Posted by liberalhawk A regular Democratic party mission statement eh? |
| Posted by: Besoeker in Duitsland 2009-10-06 12:31 |
| #4 to subvert and dominate it, and to keep tabs on US forces there, the oil industry, etc. I guess. For starters. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2009-10-06 11:30 |
| #3 There is a huge arab community in Iran, close to the Strait of Hormuz. And most Iraqi arabs are pro-Iran Shiites. Both recruitment and infiltration would be easy. |
| Posted by: Ulineper Scourge of the Veal Cutlets9295 2009-10-06 07:53 |
| #2 He's pissed about the Iran-Iraq war? That was over 20 years ago. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-10-06 06:48 |
| #1 40,000 Iranian spies in the Arab Gulf states, 3,000 of them in Kuwait alone Exactly why does Iran need 3000 spies in Kuwait? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-06 03:09 |