Edited by: Fern Sidman
Iran is becoming increasingly concerned about a spate of attacks in less than nine months. Security lapses with the heart of Iran have exposed them to embarrassment and many are pointing to Israel as the culprit. Iran has consistently threatened Israel’s existence with their now infamous nuclear weapons development program.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, speculation has grown that Israel may be responsible for an assassination of an “Al Qaeda commander given refuge in Tehran, Iran’s chief nuclear scientist was machine-gunned on a country road, and two separate, mysterious explosions rocked a key Iranian nuclear facility in the desert, striking the heart of the country’s efforts to enrich uranium.”
The Times reported that Israeli intelligence along with the assistance of Iranian collaborators were able to infiltrate deep inside Iran’s borders and thusly were in a position to successfully strike at targets that were heavily guarded. Iran is taking a tentative position as they consider pursuing negotiations with the Biden administration aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement, as was reported by the NYT.
Outraged at the security breaches, many have conjectured that Iran has morphed into a repository for foreign espionage. The Times reported that “the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps called for an overhaul of the country’s security and intelligence apparatus. Lawmakers have demanded the resignation of top security and intelligence officials.”
What is particularly irking Iranian officials and analysts is that the attacks tell the tale of the Israeli network of collaborators inside their country and that Iran’s intelligence agencies have failed abysmally in locating them, as was reported by the NYT.
Speaking to the New York Times, Sanam Vakil, the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House said, “That the Israelis are effectively able to hit Iran inside in such a brazen way is hugely embarrassing and demonstrates a weakness that I think plays poorly inside Iran.”
As such, Iran is becoming gripped by a palpable paranoia and every mishap provokes thoughts of plots by foreign entities.
This past weekend, Iran announced that they have found an alleged suspect in the recent attack on their Natanz nuclear reactor. The New York Times reported that state television in Iran posted a photograph of Reza Karimi, 42, and accused him of being a “perpetrator of sabotage” as it pertains to the attack on the reactor. The Ministry of Iranian Intelligence said that Karimi had left the country prior to the blast on the Natanz facility. No information of who Karimi is or whether he allegedly perpetrated the Natanz attack on his own or with help from a foreign country. The television report did not indicate if Karimi is his real name.
Immediate suspicions of foul play emerged on Monday when state television in Iran reported that Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi, the deputy commander of the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards, had died of heart disease, as was reported by the NYT.
The Times reported that General Hejazi had long been a target of Israeli espionage, and the son of another prominent Quds Force commander insisted on Twitter that Mr. Hejazi’s death was “not cardiac-related.”
