6 months after the death of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Iran convicts the Iranian citizen who passed information regarding whereabouts of the general to the US and Iraq, to execution.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Iranian Judicial Services, Gholamhossein Esmaili told in a televised news conference that the accused has been recognized as Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd by the officials and has been condemned to death because of betrayal against his own nation. Esmaili portrayed the man to be a spy of CIA and Israel’s Mossad security agency who passed on the information about Soleimani’s flight details and whereabouts to the US.
“Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, one of the spies for the CIA and the Mossad, has been sentenced to death … He had shared information about the whereabouts of martyr Soleimani with our enemies,” said Esmaili, according to the Reuters who covered the news.
“He passed on security information to the Israeli and American intelligence agencies about Iran’s armed forces, particularly the Guards”, Esmaili further added.
Qasem Soleimani was a major general in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was the commander of its specialized Qud’s Force which deals with extraterrestrial secret operations. On 3rd January, 2020 he was assassinated by a US drone in Baghdad, Iraq. His death heightened the tension between the US and Iran and pushed them towards a possible war.
According to one security official based in the Persian Gulf, in the US media reports, certain information was revealed regarding the strike which made it easier for Revolutionary Guards to pinpoint the culprit and punish him. He requested anonymity because he is not permitted to discuss Iran with the media. He said, “We knew the Pasdaran[Revolutionary Guards] was looking at logistics and security offices for the leak, people who would have to know [Soleimani’s] movements as part of their work.”
Although Iran has not revealed whether the man was someone from within the security forces, it can be presumed to be so from Iran’s reaction to the situation. A person from NATO who is an expert at these situations said, “This is how most countries would prefer to deal with catching a traitor in the security services. You need to know what they gave up and when and how they were recruited as quickly as possible, then a fast, final trial to not embarrass the service.”
This incident pushed Iran to retaliate. Iran launched a rocket attack on the airbase of Iraq where US forces were stationed. Another mishap took place when Iranian forces misconstrued a Ukrainian passenger flight to be the US forces and shot it down while it was taking off from Tehran. The terror for World War 3 is very real and disruptive when the world is already fighting a common enemy at hand.
