Regime intelligence agents in France unmasked

The Iran Brief, Issue Number 31, dated 2/5/97, Serial 3112

In an unusual public move, the Organization of the People's Fedaii Guerrillas has revealed the identities of fourteen individuals it claims are intelligence agents of the Islamic Republic operating in France. The group says it took the move after waiting a year for the French authorities to take effective measures to circumscribe the activities of the alleged agents, whose names were handed over the French early last year. When the French did nothing, the group decided to publish the list.

The group claims the fourteen agents are only part of the regime's "vast intelligence network in France... Other regime agents in France are carrying out their missions under commercial cover, and sometimes pose as opponents of the regime, in order to infiltrate cultural and artistic groups."

The group identified the fourteen alleged agents as follows:

• Mojiri (aka Madjidi), is the head of SAVAMA operations in France and works out of the Iranian embassy in Paris. He coordinates regime agents and organizes operations. He is also in charge of arms purchasing and other secret procurement operations for the regime, and prepares all reporting to Tehran on SAVAMA activities.
• Nateq: head of the office of the Iranian ambassador
• Ali Asghar Salehi, head of the Behnam company in Paris. One of the most important SAVAMA agents in France, he is in direct contact with Tehran. He is responsible for transmitting information to Tehran on opposition organizations, and reports to Jafar Jalali. A few years ago, before the change in French policy against the opposition, Jalali was expelled from France and declared persona non grata until the year 2006.
• ----- [identity withheld for security reasons]. This person is in charge of the movements of intelligence personnel as well as undercover surveillance agents who travel on Iran Air flights. When they arrive in France, these agents are authorized to leave the airport while the aircraft remains on the ground. They can thus easily carry out terrorist operations, then return to the airport and leave France as members of the flight crew.
• Mohsen Assadollahi works as a lawyer. In recent years, he has obtained resident alien status for numerous Iranians, including several requests for political asylum. In so doing, Assadollahi gained the confidence of Iranians living in France. In recent years, he has entered a business relationship with several agents of the regime. Influenced by them, Assadollahi has returned to Iran with a list of names of all his clients seeking permanent resident status or political asylum. Before leaving, however, he gave this same list to the Iranian embassy in Paris. He traveled to Tehran accompanied by one of the known agents of the regime in France. In Tehran, he met with Mohsen Hashemi-Rafsanjani, son of the President, in the office of the President. Assadollahi also met in Tehran with the head of the Bonyad-e Mostazafan, Mohsen Rafiq-doust, to discuss a large loan from French banks for the Foundation.
• Mohammad Namdari Kazerouni, who works under cover as a courier for the Paris branch of the Bank Sepah.
• Djada. A carpet merchant working near the Place de la République in Paris, Djada is one of the confidants of the Iranian ambassador to Paris. He maintains close ties to the International and Legal departments at the embassy, and using an intermediary supplies Mojiri with information on other Iranian carpet merchants.
• ---- [identity withheld for security reasons]. In charge of purchasing on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.
• Zafaranlou. The former director of the Paris branch of the Bank Tejarat. Following exposure of his role by the Organization of the People's Fedaii Guerrillas last year, he was recalled to Tehran.
• Amini: Advisor at the Paris branch of the Bank Tejarat.
• Kachi: Passport officer at Iranian consulate in Paris. Following the 1979 revolution, he became a follower and close associate of Ayatollah Khalkhali, known as the "butcher of Tehran" because he ordered the execution of hundreds of persons associated with the former regime.
• Ghyassi: a member of the Iranian consulate in Paris, in charge of the Maison d'Iran on the Champs Elysée.
• ----- [identity withheld for security reasons]. In charge of official travel by regime officials in France, and a key figure in the regime's clandestine financial and commercial activities in France.
• Ms. Laleh Moein, director of Limo SARL, a company used for the clandestine procurement of military equipment, including spare parts from Israel for Iranian fighter aircraft. She also infiltrated the People's Mujahidin Organization of Iran (MEK), and was sent by SAVAMA to the group's main base in Iraq following an Iranian Air Force bombardment, to determine whether Massoud Rajavi had survived the raid.

The Islamic Republic has frequently relied on the foreign branches of its state-controlled banks to place intelligence agents and to finance terrorist operations. In Germany, for instance, the most prominent is Bank Melli, which regularly advertises in the exile press to attract Iranian business. Bank Melli maintains branches in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf.