The Iranian intelligence Chief Hossein Taeb received the “Iraq file” from the commander of the Quds Force

With the arrival of the intelligence chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hussein Taeb, to the capital, Baghdad, Shiite militias launched an unprecedented attack on the American presence in Iraq, by bombing the "Ain al-Assad" base in the west of the country with about 30 missiles, and detonating a drone in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

"Taeb" visited Iraq secretly on July 6, 2021, and met with militia leaders and pro-Iranian politicians, in addition to holding a "secret meeting" with Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, from whom no official details were issued, except what was leaked by media reports.

 

New Role

Taeb's visit to Iraq is the first since the establishment of the "Iranian Revolutionary Guard" in 1979. It indicates that he assumed a new role in the region, especially after meeting the first official in Iraq and discussing the file of the American withdrawal, contrary to what was customary, as it was assumed by the commander of Quds Force, Ismail Qaani.

A press report on July 7, 2021 quoted a source close to the Iraqi Prime Minister (unnamed), that "Al-Kazemi sent a message to Taeb regarding the role of armed factions close to Tehran, and their targeting of diplomatic missions and international coalition forces in Iraq."

The source quoted Al-Kazemi saying: "What happens in terms of bombing and targeting affects the course of the US-Iranian negotiations, and affects the schedule for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq."

He continued: "The Iraqi prime minister informed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' intelligence chief of the necessity to stop bombing operations if they were coordinated between the guards and these factions, and he also told him: These operations are terrorist operations and not resistance."

According to the source, "Taeb informed Al-Kazemi that the bombing operations that are taking place have nothing to do with the Revolutionary Guard and the factions that coordinate with it."

According to him, "the head of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence, assured Al-Kazemi that Tehran is not with this escalation, and believes that it will cause negotiations between Tehran and Washington to go into a dead end."

However, another report on July 8, 2021 revealed that Taeb’s meeting with Al-Kazemi took place outside the latter’s residence inside the Green Zone, as the first requested to meet Al-Kazemi outside the “Green” for purely security reasons, but the meeting location was not disclosed.

The meeting took place in the presence of the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and the head of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, in addition to the head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, Faleh al-Fayyad, all of whom are close to Iran, according to the report.

The meeting, in its entirety, revolved around the removal of US forces from Iraq, the attempt to pressure Al-Kazemi to request the Americans' withdrawal, and the necessity of stabilizing matters in Iraq and holding parliamentary elections.

The report quoted an Iranian intelligence source, who accompanied Taeb during his meeting with Al-Kazemi, saying, "Taeb informed Al-Kazemi that he is responsible for removing American forces from Iraq, and he must pressure Washington to withdraw its forces from Iraq."

"The Priest’s Killer"

Taeb, born in 1963 in Tehran, is accused by the Iranian opposition of being the architect of murder plans and mafia plots in the Wilayat al-Faqih regime, as well as the author of the plans to kill Christian priests and the explosion of the Imam Reza shrine.

On November 17, 2020, the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization said: Taeb is the fabricator of the murder of priests in 1988.

The organization stated that on August 26, 2016, Mahdi, the son of Mullah Khazali, who held several responsibilities for many years in the Iranian regime, admitted that the killing of Christian priests was designed and carried out by the regime's Ministry of Intelligence.

On January 23, 2019, the organization quoted a statement from the former Iranian Assistant Minister of Interior, Mostafa Tajzadeh, in which he said that "the intelligence service department is behind the implementation of the dirty scenarios of the killing of priests and the bombing of the Imam Reza shrine."

Taeb was a former commander of the "Basij" (Popular Paramilitary Forces), as well as the Deputy Minister of Intelligence in the Revolutionary Guards, from 2009 until 2019, he was promoted from Deputy Minister of Intelligence to Head of the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Service.

In conjunction with the formation of the intelligence service, another intelligence service was formed in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard called the "Deputy Strategic Intelligence" headed by Brigadier General Hassan Mahagi.

With the appointment of Hossein Salami to the position of commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 2019, the Intelligence Organization of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Deputy Minister of Strategic Intelligence were merged, and Taeb was appointed as the head of intelligence in the Revolutionary Guards.

 

Suppression of Protests

Taeb completed his primary and secondary education in the schools of the Shahryor district of the capital, and received courses in religious schools in Tehran and Qom. He attended courses outside of jurisprudence and principles of the great verses of Jawad Tabrizi, Fadhil Lankarani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Taeb held the title “Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin” (a scientific degree for Shiites), and joined the Revolutionary Guards in 1982 and began his activity in the Revolutionary Guards of the tenth district in Tehran, and in the guards of the provinces of Qom and Khorasan Razavi, and for some time he served as deputy coordinator of the House of Leaders.

Then, for more than three years, he held the position of Deputy Minister of Culture in the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Revolutionary Guards, and commander of the College of Culture at Imam Hussein University.

Taeb also served as the commander of information protection in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and deputy minister of counterintelligence during the era of Ali Fallahian.

He was mentioned as an official of the parallel intelligence service and was one of the candidates for the position of the Ministry of Intelligence in the tenth government.

The performance of the Basij forces, under Taeb's command, during the protests that followed the 2009 presidential elections was widely criticized.

Politician Mehdi Karroubi accused him of directing Mousavi's song on (RFE/RL) channel, as well as using his female relative, Taraneh Mousavi, to deny news of the killing of a girl of the same name during the protests.

On October 28, 2010, the US Treasury Department also sanctioned Taeb for serious human rights violations, and US citizens would not have the right to deal with him.

According to a statement also issued by the European Union, forces led by Taeb participated in the "beating", "killing", "arresting" and "torturing" protesters during the 2009 presidential campaign.

A statement by the US Treasury said that "Taeb is currently the deputy chief of staff for intelligence." As a "commander of the Basij paramilitary forces during the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential elections, forces under his command participated in beatings, killings, arbitrary arrests, and imprisonment of demonstrators who were protesting peacefully."