'Iranian security establishment shaken by Israeli breaches'

A series of recent incidents inside Iran attributed to Israeli agents has significantly undermined the Iranian security establishment’s confidence in its own intelligence operations, and led to the recent shakeup in leadership, an Iranian cleric and former vice president said.

According to a report by The New York Times Wednesday, the replacement of Hossein Taib, head of the intelligence unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), last week was a direct result of Israeli security operations in Iran, along with the failure of Iranian plots abroad.

The report cited former Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who spoke with the Times by phone.

“The security breaches inside Iran and the vast scope of operations by Israel have really undermined our most powerful intelligence organization,” Abtahi said. “The strength of our security has always been the bedrock of the Islamic Republic and it has been damaged in the past year.”

Last week, multiple reports from Iran indicated that Taib was fired as chief of intelligence for the IRGC.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the Times report.