Iran Executes Former Translator Convicted Of Selling General Soleimani’s Location To The CIA

Photo: Mahmoud Mousavi Majd (left), a translator who worked with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has been executed for helping the US carry out the raid which killed Qassem Soleimani.

Daily Mail: Iran executes second man accused of spying for CIA and helping US military carry out fatal drone strike on General Soleimani

* Mahmoud Mousavi Majd was executed on Monday, Iran's judiciary has said
* Translator who worked with the Revolutionary Guard was accused of being a spy
* Iran claims he sold intelligence on the Quds force and Soleimani to US and Israel
* Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on Baghdad Airport on January 3

Iran has executed a translator accused of being a US and Israeli spy who helped the US kill General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike.

Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, a translator, was put to death on Monday, according to Iran's judiciary website.

It comes a week after defence worker Reza Asgari was put to death after being accused of selling secret information about Iran's missile program to the US.

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More News On Iran Executing A Former Translator Convicted Of Selling General Soleimani’s Location To The CIA

Iran executes former translator convicted of spying for CIA, Mossad -- France 24
Iran executes man convicted of spying for US and Israel -- BBC
Iran executes man convicted of spying for CIA, Mossad -- DW
Iran executes man accused of spying for CIA, Mossad -- UPI
Iran has executed an alleged CIA and Mossad agent who it says helped spy on Qassem Soleimani before his assassination -- Business Insider
Iran executes man convicted of selling General Soleimani’s location to CIA – official -- RT

Iran Arrests Several Suspected Spies Near Bushehr Nuclear Plant

Iranian Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alawi

Iran Arrests Several Spies In Bushehr Province -- FARS News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alawi announced on Tuesday that the country's security forces have arrested several spies in the Southern province of Bushehr which hosts the nation's first nuclear power plant.

"Thanks to the vigilance of the Intelligence Ministry forces who monitor the moves of the foreign intelligence services, some agents who intended to carry out surveillance and intelligence gathering for the foreigners in Bushehr province have been identified and sent to justice," Alawi said, addressing a number of local officials in Bushehr city today.

The minister further reminded the decisive role of the Bushehr province for the country, and stressed, "This province as the economic, industrial, military, trade and nuclear hub of the country has a special position at the national level."

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Update #1: Iran arrests several spies near Bushehr nuclear plant: Fars news agency -- Reuters
Update #2: Iran Arrests Suspected Spies Near Bushehr Reactor -- Arutz Sheva
Update #3: Iran Arrests Suspected Spies Near Bushehr Reactor -- Jerusalem Post

My Comment: An Israeli spy operation?

U.S. Spying Efforts Against Iran Continues

Stealth Drone Capture Didn’t Hurt U.S. Nuke Spying, Paper Says -- Danger Room

When one of the U.S. Air Force’s secretive RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drones crashed along the Afghanistan-Iran border in December and wound up in the hands of the Iranians, it did only “limited damage” to a U.S.-led effort to spy on Tehran’s suspected nuclear facilities.

That’s one surprising conclusion of a revealing new story published by The Washington Post on Saturday.

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Previous Post: U.S. Intelligence Has Iran Under It's Watchful Eye

More News On US Spying Efforts On Iran's Nuclear Program

Washington says it's peering into Iran's nuclear crannies ahead of talks -- The Guardian
Report: U.S. operated inside Iran to collect information on nuclear program -- Haaretz
Can Obama Interpret Iran’s Mixed Signals? -- Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary
Politicizing Intelligence -- Elliott Abrams, Weekly Standard

Spy Pigeons -- The New James Bonds

(Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters)

Spy Pigeons Circle the World -- The Danger Room

This week's report that Iran had found "spy pigeons" near one of its nuclear faculties looked ridiculous. The very idea of using pigeons for intelligence gathering is obviously crazy. But is it crazy enough to be true?

Attaching instrumentation to pigeons easier than you might think. Beatriz de Costa attracted attention in 2006 when she started using instrumented pigeons for air quality monitoring in California. The birds are equipped with GPS and a stripped-down mobile phone and camera as well as a device to measure air pollution, and send back data via SMS texting – they have their own blog. (Da Costa is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine "Departments of Studio Art, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science" and described as an "interdisciplinary researcher and artist.")

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My Comment: I laughed before .... maybe I should not laugh now.

Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. 'Spies' to Iran

From ABC News:

Iran Claims Jundullah Militants, Led by Abdel Malik Regi, Are 'Spies' for the CIA

In another sign of growing tensions with the United States, Pakistan is threatening to turn over to Iran six members of a tribal militant group Iran claims are "spies" for the CIA.

The group, Jundullah, operates in Baluchistan on both sides of the border between Iran and Pakistan and has carried out a number of violent attacks on Iranian army facilities and officers inside the country.

The CIA has denied any direct ties with the group, but U.S. officials tell ABC News U.S. intelligence officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran.

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News From Other Sources:
CIA Protects Al-Qaeda Group From Extradition -- Infowars
CIA Protects Al-Qaeda Group From Extradition -- Black Listed News
Iran Busts CIA-Backed Terror Group -- Real Truth Online
Is the U.S. backing pro-Shah terrorism against Iran? -- Daily Kos

My Comment: Because Iran has a religious and ethnic hard line altitude towards many of it's minority ethnic groups, I am not surprised that many of these same groups are now organizing themselves to use violence against Tehran. This naturally becomes a tempting target for outsiders like the U.S. or Sunni extremists to take advantage of. While many pundits believe that the U.S. is actively involved in fermenting trouble in Iran, I hold the opinion that for a long time .... with no help from the U.S. .... anger and rebellion has been fermenting in the outlying regions.

I would not be surprised if foreign intelligence services are using Iranian dissidents to gather information .... from Iran's nuke program, its oil industry and capabilities, and political stability .... but to actively bring weapons into the country, I am skeptical of this idea. If there is a serious attempt to undermine the regime in Tehran by supporting "liberation" movements with weapons .... I fail to see how they can hide it. These secrets are never kept for any period of time.

The one thing that I have noticed in the story, is that while it appears that the U.S. is actively trying to prevent this extradition, the Pakistanis do not care. For a country that receives billions in U.S. aid .... my impression is that there is something definitely wrong.