Failure or Betrayal – Iran sacked Hossein Taeb, head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence service
Iranian authorities recently announced the dismissal of Hossein Taeb, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Intelligence Service, who is famous for being the commander of the protection of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and the appointment of the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards Brigadier General Mohammad Kazemi as the head of the Guards Intelligence to succeed him. The spokesman of the Guards forces, Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, announced the appointment of Kazemi, saying: “Kazemi was in charge of the Guard’s Information Protection Organization for many years, and Hossein Taeb was appointed advisor to the Guard commander”.
Overthrow of Taeb
According to Iranian experts, the removal of Hossein Taeb from the presidency of the Intelligence Service of the Iranian Guard is related to the suspected killing of the commanders of the Quds Force of the Guards and experts of the Iranian regime’s nuclear and military industries, which caused major divisions in the Guard Forces and the intelligence and security apparatus of the regime. Hossein Taeb, the former commander of the repressive Basij Force, during his tenure as head of the Guard Intelligence Service, was a key figure in the suppression of popular uprisings and protests against the Mullah government.
Security breach
The decision of the Supreme Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to replace the head of the intelligence agency, Hossein Taeb, with a military brigade, Mohammad Kazemi, raised a lot of questions about the reason for this decision. After Taeb spent 12 years in this sensitive position, and he was known as the leader of Khamenei’s protection. However, after a few days of sudden change, the media belonging to the Revolutionary Guards came out to say that the changes come within the framework of “rearranging a new era and increasing measures against Israel and the intelligence attack on the enemy”. The appointment of the cleric Mohammad Kazemi as Taeb’s successor means that Iran “can take steps in its new position against the United States and Israel”. It added that the appointment of Taeb as an adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, “one of the honorable positions in Iran, is an expression of respect for the person who was dismissed from his position”, and an attempt to stifle talks about the Iranian regime’s liquidation of its former leaders due to the security penetration of Iranian agencies by Israel. Meanwhile, Ciwan newspaper revealed the falsity of these allegations, stressing that these changes are “the first stage of a major event”.
Consecutive failures
Although the newspaper did not reveal the nature of this major event, it seems clear that the changes in the Revolutionary Guard are due to an evaluation of Taeb’s performance in recent years, including the increasing frequency of assassinations against members of the Revolutionary Guard. Some estimates also indicated that Taeb’s exemption from his position comes against the backdrop of successive failures in carrying out foreign missions, including a plan to kidnap or assassinate Israelis in Turkey, especially since the decision to dismiss him coincides with Turkey’s announcement of the dismantling of an Iranian cell of eight elements, including Iranians who were planning to carry out operations against Israeli citizens in Istanbul.
Voices called for his dismissal
A few days before the decision to exempt Hossein Taeb, the Israeli Kan channel revealed the rise of voices within the Revolutionary Guard calling for the removal of the man after 12 years in office, due to the failure to carry out operations against Turkish citizens in Turkey. According to Iran International, Iranian sources said that “the successive defeats of the Revolutionary Guards in carrying out terrorist missions abroad, intensified the calls for the dismissal of Taeb”.
