Arrests Of Hardliner Journalists In Iran Remains A Mystery
Speculations continue in Iran amid a news blackout over IRGC's arrest of admins running three of its own social media news channels on the Telegram app.
Speculations continue in Iran amid a news blackout over IRGC's arrest of admins running three of its own social media news channels on the Telegram app.
Iranians with some knowledge of the affair have reported that the counter-espionage unit of the IRGC arrested several journalists in Tehran, most notably Ali Gholhaki, a hardliner, conservative investigative journalists with a proven access to insider information from the Iranian establishment.
The arrest stirred a controversy on social media as various people with knowledge of personalities involved gave different accounts of Mr. Gholhaki’s background, performance and character. Iranian journalist Ali Maliki wrote in a tweet that Gholhaki’s arrest sounded odd as he was an example of journalists who are linked to Iran’s power centers.
Another Iranian journalist, Mojtaba Purmohsen quoted a post published on the hardliner Ammarioun channel on Telegram and wrote that the reason why Gholhaki was arrested was that he had disclosed Israeli infiltration into the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
Another netizen who introduced himself or herself as Emilia, wrote in a Twitter post: “If I were a spy I would have wanted to look like Ali Gholhaki and other hardliner journalists or even some of the Iranian lawmakers if I did not wish to be recognized easily.” Emilia was only one of the social media users who pointed out that spies usually chose to be disguised as hardliner Muslims.
An Iranian teacher, Siavash Khoshdel, tweeted: “Gholhaki has been arrested. But has he been detained legally? Even if yes, has there been a trial or a verdict? No. And there is no reason to believe that there would be a fair trial for him.”
In an interview with Iran International TV, analyst Mehdi Mahdavi-Azad quoted lawmaker Malik Shariati as having said that Gholhaki was arrested by the IRGC’s Counter Disinformation unit. “If this is true, one can say with a degree of certainty that Gholhaki was a member of The IRGC or Basij militia or he was in charge of a major IRGC project,” said Mahdavi Azad.
Mahdavi-Azad added that several Iranian journalists including Saba Azarpeik and Massoud Kazemi have said that Gholhaki was involved in fabricating incriminating evidence against them. The analyst argued that if this claim is true then Gholhaki was in one way or another cooperating with Iranian security-intelligence forces.
Mahdavi-Azad said that in the past Ali Ghazali the editor of Baztab news website and Mohammad Hossein Rostami the managing editor of ultra-conservative website Ammarioun had been arrested on similar charges, and they are still in jail. Similar arrests including that of investigative journalist Reza Golpour, said Mahdavi Azad, happened at a time when there was an internal conflict in the IRGC, and one part of the corps wanted to silence another part.
The analyst said that probably disclosures about parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s family luxury shopping trip, and the leaking of tapesincluding statements made by former IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari as well as leaking another tape including remarks by Mehdi Taeb, the brother of IRGC Intelligence Chief Hossein Taeb could be reasons why Gholhaki was arrested. Interestingly, all of these controversies involved Ghalibaf.
Meanwhile, as Twitter user Anvari wrote in a warning to other conservative journalists and Twitter users: “Ali Gholhaki, a well-known conservative journalist has been arrested by the IRGC Intelligence on charges of espionage. Let it be known that the IRGC has no mercy even for you my dear friend.”
There is still no news about Gholhaki’s whereabouts or about the names of others who may have been arrested.
In a piece by staff in Washington and Mossad expert Ronen Bergman in Israel, the Times highlighted Iran’s construction of “a vast tunnel network” just south of its Natanz uranium enrichment plant.
With year-long talks in Vienna to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on hold since March, the paper suggested that “high on the agenda” for Biden’s trip would be “the question of taking more extreme measures to stop Iran, as the United States and Israel have attempted before.” Diplomatic efforts to “reimpose limits on Iran’s nuclear actions appear all but dead,” the Times argued.
The purpose of the tunnels was, however, unclear. US officials told the Times that the new underground facility was to replace a centrifuge assembly plant that the Times – apparently referring to a fire at Natanz in July 2020 – said “Israel blew up in April 2020 [sic], in a particularly sophisticated attack.”
US officials also told the Times Iran was probably engaged in a brinkmanship they believed to influence the nuclear talks. As well as expanding levels of uranium enrichment and restricting the access of International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, Tehran sought “new pressure points, including the excavation of the mountain plant near Natanz.”
The Times reported Kenneth McKenzie, who stepped down in April as commander of US Central Command covering the Middle East, also suggesting Iran sought leverage. “They like the idea of hanging the nuclear program over us because it produces a response,” he said.
McKenzie argued that the nuclear program was not the main issue. The real “crown jewels” for Iran were ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones – where he suggested it had “made huge strides in the last five to seven years.”
‘Relentless effort for a bomb’
Israeli officials gave the New York Times a different take. For them, the paper said, the Natanz tunnels were “more evidence of a relentless Iranian effort to pursue a bomb capability” and justified Israel’s “accelerated attacks on the nuclear program and the scientists and engineers behind both Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.”
Among recent attacks on Iranian facilities was one on the Karaj manufacturing workshop in June 2021, which Tehran blamed on Israel. The strike soured Iran’s relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency and led it to switch manufacturing to existing space at Natanz.
While the killing of Iranian scientists attributed to Israel goes back to 2010, there have been suggestions that Israeli intelligence recently poisoned two more.
The freeze in talks to revive the JCPOA – which according to some reports boil down to the US listing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ – alarm many in Europe also concerned over Biden’s rapprochement with Saudi Arabia after initially in office taking distance from Riyadh over ‘human rights’ and its role in the Yemen war.
‘Time for decision is now’
While EU efforts to revive the Vienna nuclear talks over the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), have failed to bridge the US-Iran divide, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell told the United Nations Security Council Thursday of his “permanent contact with all the parties to try arrange a return to the JCPOA and ensure its full implementation.”
Insisting that the “basic elements and terms to do this are known and on the table,” Borrell said “the time for decision is now.”
In a separate part of his speech referring to countries buying Russian exports, Borrell reiterated the EU’s opposition to ‘secondary’ sanctions – punitive measures against third parties. Ironically, the US Thursday took such measures against Chinese and Emirati firms over Iranian petrochemical exports. Hamad Al Kaabi, the United Arab Emirati envoy to the IAEA, said Friday he hoped Iran would work with the IAEA to reassure “the international community” over its nuclear program.
According to the highly active political rumor mill in Iran, Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani and Supreme Council of national Security Secretary Ali Shamkhani lashed out at ultraconservative Saeed Jalili after he voiced support at the Expediency Council for the idea of Tehran exiting the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Jalili was Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when Iran was nabbed with international sanctions. He is also the long-time mentor of current negotiator, Ali Bagheri-Kani.
Reformist newspaper Sharq later revealed that the news of the quarrel was first disclosed by "Ammarioun," an ultraconservative group close to the IRGC and the ultraconservative Paydari Party that had nominated Jalili as their candidate for presidency in 2013.
The former lawmaker, Gholamreza Jafarzadeh Imanabadi said in an interview with Didban Iran [Iran Monitor] website that he is not aware of the details of the argument, but he added that "It is obvious the country cannot be run based on the ideas of Mr. Jalili," who is a staunch opponent of an agreement with the United States. Imanabadi further characterized Jalili as a "warmonger."
However, Imanabadi's criticism of the government goes beyond his opposition with Jalili's rejectionism. He said, "all those who engineered the 2021 presidential election and brought Ebrahim Raisi to power should be accountable for what they did."
"It is not important to know who fought whom at the Expediency Council. The real struggle is about the people's life and livelihood."
Imanabadi charged that "Raisi is to be blamed for all the swear words people use against the regime." The former lawmaker further warned that if Iran ever exits the NPT, the Islamic Republic and the Iranian people will have to face an emergency situation.
He said that individuals such as Jalili are determined to ruin the last remnants of the people's livelihood. Elaborating on the perils of the Raisi administration's economic policy, Imanabadi said that a tripling of tax revenues this year is tantamount to picking the nation's pockets.
He further criticized Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi for saying that prices of only four food items have increased, adding that Mr. Vahidi has never visited the kitchen in his own home!
On the nuclear deal with world powers and negotiations with the United States, he said: "Whether you like it or not, the people's livelihood is tied to the nuclear deal and relations with other countries. You cannot say that you want a dynamic economy and at the same time be sulking with all countries!" He further charged that "the Raisi administration is the weakest government Iran has ever had and Mr. Raisi does not know anything about how to run a country."
In another development, according to the conservative Nameh News website, political analyst Gholamreza Zarifian suggested that Raisi should benefit from the experience of former ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He added that Iran has so many economic problems that the only solution is trying to have the sanctions lifted. "I hope Raisi would benefit from the experiences of his predecessors Rouhani and Ahmadinejad."
Zarifian was referring to the fact that Ahmadinejad called UN resolutions shreds of paper and ignored warnings about Iran’s nuclear program, which led to international sanctions, while President Hassan Rouhani used diplomacy to negotiate with the United States and have the sanctions lifted for a few years.