NCRI-US Conference: Iran Regime’s Inner Workings of Terror & Espionage Machine

May 3, 2019
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The NCRI’s  Representative Office in the United States (NCRI-US) held a press briefing on Wednesday, May 1, to highlighting the details about the role of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) as well as Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conducting terror operations abroad, particularly against Iranian dissidents in the U.S. and Europe. The conference detailed the closely knit partnership between MOIS and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in blueprinting and executing the terror operations. The decision-making process and nexus between the MOIS & IRGC were also discussed.

During the conference, the NCRI-US deputy director Alireza Jafarzadeh discussed the reasons behind Iran’s decision to conduct terror activities on Western soil at such vitally critical diplomatic and political juncture, the decision-making process for such terror operations, the role of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the agencies involved, the coordination process, and the cover-up schemes. In addition, the nexus between the MOIS and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were also discussed in length.

The event, moderated by US Ambassador Adam Ereli, also rendered the publication of NCRI-US latest book, “Iran’s Emissaries of Terror” that explains how mullahs’ embassies run the network of espionage and murder among other information about the mullahs network of terror some of which discussed in the conference.

The New Book details the role of Tehran’s embassies and diplomats at the core of both the planning and execution of international terrorism targeting Iranian dissidents as well as their central role in Tehran’s direct and proxy terrorism against other countries. To this end, Tehran’s embassies and consulates serve as hubs, while its diplomats act as controllers and operatives.


There has been  a sharp increase in Tehran’s terror plots on Western soil in 2018, from the United States to France and Albania. A regime’s so-called “diplomat” is currently in jail in Belgium, five such “diplomats” were expelled by European nations, and several other MOIS agents, including two in the United States, are held in detention, all on terrorism and espionage charges.

Reviewing Tehran’s terror, Jafarzadeh specifically discussed ten incidents in 2018 in the United States, U.K., Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Albania. According to the NCRI-US deputy director, the regime’s MOIS & the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are directly involved and Tehran’s plots are not carried out by mere rogue elements. These objectives are very well-planned and well-facilitated operations designed at the highest ranks in Tehran.

“The IRGC and MOIS are connected in these terror plots. Five different major decision-makers are involved in the regime’s terror apparatus, with every decision conditioned on approval from the Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.”

The Supreme National Security Council, headed by regime President Hassan Rouhani, signs off any and all terror plots, indicating how the “moderate” Rouhani is directly involved.

The MOIS is the lead agency behind the regime’s foreign terrorism. The IRGC Quds Force is mostly focused on terror plots in the Middle East and from time to time in Europe. The Quds Force Unit 400 uses foreign nationals to carry out foreign plots.

The IRGC Intelligence Organization is directly involved in domestic repression and terrorism abroad. This entity is directly linked to Khamenei himself.

The regime’s embassies abroad provide intelligence centers for the MOIS, diplomatic immunity, documentation, covers, cash and even explosives, ammunition and weapons. All of these are provided by the mullahs’ embassies. If terrorists are apprehended, the embassies are involved in whitewashing the entire issue to retrieve their men.

In Albania, never a country of interest for the Iranian regime prior to 2013. This all changed when members of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), were relocated to Albania. In 2016, a very senior MOIS official, Gholam Hossein Mohammad-Nia, also a part of the nuclear negotiations, became the regime’s ambassador in Albania. Other senior MOIS officials were dispatched to Albania in order to prepare the grounds for terror plots against the MEK in this Balkan country.

The MOIS intended to bomb an Iranian new year, Nowruz, an event held by the MEK in Albania. Local authorities were able to apprehend the two Iranian regime agents involved in this plot.

Austria now serves as the MOIS hub in Europe. Asdollah Assadi, an Iranian regime diplomat and station chief in Vienna, delivered explosives to a Belgian-Iranian couple prior to their mission to bomb a major Iranian opposition rally near Paris. Assadi is now in German custody and, stripped of diplomatic immunity by Austria, Tehran is desperately attempting to have him returned to Iran.

The regime’s Bonn embassy in Germany provided an entire floor to the MOIS and their terror operatives, Jafarzadeh said, while briefly reviewing Iran’s history of targeting dissidents on European soil through the past few decades. In nearly all cases, the mullahs’ regime has been able to retrieve all the terrorists and have them returned to Iran.

The regime’s foreign ministers, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have played important roles in the mullahs’ terror plots. Ali Akbar Velayati, the regime’s top diplomat for 16 years, is wanted for terror plots, including the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing in Buenos Aires.

Zarif is a senior member of the Supreme National Security Council and is aware of all terror plots. Five Iranian regime so-called diplomats have been expelled from foreign soil back to Iran and one remains in jail, all for terrorism charges. This tells much about Zarif’s role in the regime’s terrorism. Zarif should have been arrested once arriving in New York for his involvement in the mullahs’ terror plots, Jafarzadeh said, adding he himself is a terrorist.

The MOIS and IRGC jointly conduct domestic repression and terror operations abroad. The MOIS was carved out of the IRGC intelligence and named as the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The MOIS was founded by former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezaie.

The MOIS is highly controlled by Khamenei and all intelligence ministers need the Supreme Leader’s direct approval. Officials are exchanged between the IRGC and the MOIS, including Majid Alavi who became a deputy MOIS chief and is now stationed in Syria. Hossein Taeb, head of IRGC Intelligence Organization, formerly played a senior role in the MOIS.

All these major activities in Iran taking place due to the uprising and the PMOI/MEK’s key role in these developments. The Intelligence Minister announced last week the arrest of 116 PMOI/MEK members last year in an attempt to deliver a blow to the resistance and boost the IRGC morale.

In his conclusion, Jafarzadeh called for sanctioning Khamenei and his office, designating the MOIS as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), prosecuting all Iranian agents in Europe, shutting down the regime’s embassies  and all facilities providing support for the regime’s terror machine in Europe and elsewhere.

Zarif had also initially accused the PMOI/MEK of conducting a false flag operation seeking to bomb the June 2018 Paris rally. Half a dozen or more countries were involved in uncovering the Iranian regime’s Paris terror plot.

The MOIS is important to be designated as an FTO, providing far more restrictions for the Iranian regime. It bars U.S. individuals from providing any material support to the MOIS.

The MOIS has a significant number of operatives in the U.S., operating under different covers and even academic institutions. Their role is to provide material support to the entire regime and specifically the MOIS. Individuals associated with the MOIS would also be barred from traveling to the U.S.

This regime is in deep trouble primarily inside Iran. Tehran is also facing crises in the Middle East and the international community is taking steps of isolating the regime.

The Iranian regime’s resources should be dried by sanctioning Tehran’s petrochemical and gas industries. The IRGC owns a significant portion of the petrochemical industry. The Iranian people are not benefiting from these industries and are actually controlled by the regime in monopoly fashion.

The IRGC and MOIS have collaboration with the Lebanese Hezbollah across the globe, including the Western Hemisphere. Hezbollah has been used by the Iranian regime in the 1996 Khobar Tower bombing, the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing and Tehran has been in bed with Hezbollah in their heavy investing in Venezuela.

Addressing the regime’s malign activities limits their resources, and their ability to recruit and expand. The Iranian regime is busy in nefarious initiatives in the Western Hemisphere and specifically in the U.S.

The Iranian regime is beyond repair and beyond hope. There is no way that this country under the mullahs can reform or be better.

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