Iran Plotting to Kill Its Own President, Others

The Revolutionary Guards are plotting to kill President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his followers, sources within Ahmadinejad’s camp charged Tuesday.

Meanwhile, an assassination force has been formed to also eliminate those Iranians who oppose the supreme leader in the event of war breaking out between the United States and Iran over sanctions imposed to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Raha Press, the Iranian online media outlet close to Ahmadinejad, reported that a Guards plot code-named Hadian Basir, under the guidance of Hossein Taeb, the commander of the Guards Intelligence section, is under way to eliminate Ahmadinejad and his camp.

Taeb, who has had a long history of animosity against Ahmadinejad, is among those conservatives loyal to Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He also is among those calling Ahmadinejad and his camp the “The Seditionists.”

Khamenei loyalists called Ahmadinejad and his followers “The Seditionists” after a rift between the two came to light several months ago when Ahmadinejad dismissed Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi. Khamenei subsequently reinstated Moslehi. The intelligence minister had presented an extensive report on Ahmadinejad’s political and economic activities to the supreme leader, indicating also that Ahmadinejad was struggling for control of that ministry.

Guards intelligence has now infiltrated the Intelligence Ministry and has taken over the direction of the country’s intelligence activities, Raha Press said.

The Guards were training special handpicked forces as recently as three months ago in a city in northern Iran to eliminate Ahmadinejad, his close ally Rahim Meshaei and others in his camp, Raha Press said. It promised to release documents supporting its claims in the near future.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, a website for Iranian military insiders revealed that a “Removal Committee” under the orders of Major-General Hassan Firoozabadi, the head of the Iranian armed forces, has been formed at the Revolutionary Guards Sar’ Allah base. SepahOnline reports the agenda of this committee is based on the possibility of war with the United States. Its mission includes sabotage and assassination before the war, during the war and after the war.

The activities also include “accidental” deaths of opposition members, “suspicious deaths” of those commanders within the Iranian armed forces opposing war and terrorizing known personalities not in line with Khamenei, then blaming it all on the regime’s enemies. Bombings in public places would again be blamed on the enemies to grow fear among the populace and consolidate power within loyal forces.

The personnel are being chosen and instructed for this secret mission at the Guards’ Sar’ Allah base, which is in charge of the security of the capital and serves as one of the most important intelligence and security bases within the Revolutionary Guards.

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the author of the award winning book, A Time to Betray. He is a senior Fellow with EMPact America and teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA).