Iranian Secretary of Intelligence Ismail Hatib (Source: Tasnim News Agency)

According to the Iranian Justice Ministry's "Balance" news agency on 14th, an Iranian court ruled a trial ruling on two French citizens accused of espionage in Iran.

One of them was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and exile on charges such as cooperating with French intelligence agencies in espionage, and the others were sentenced to 6 and 5 years in prison on other charges. Another person was sentenced to a maximum of 17 years in prison on similar charges, as well as 10 and 5 years in prison on other charges.

According to an earlier report by the IINA News Agency,"six members of terrorist organizations under the command of Israeli intelligence agencies" participated in multiple terrorist attacks planned in Khuzestan Province in western Iran in 2018 and 2019, resulting in a total of four security personnel died. With the approval of the Supreme Court of Iran, the six people were executed on October 3.

Behind these news, people want to know how Iran's intelligence system is structured.

Can Iran's "dead lamb reprisals" against intelligence security systems be effective in time after the conflict in Iran this year?

Focusing on the tussle between Israel and Iran, Boguan Studio launched the third article "The War on the Hidden Front between Israel and Iran", and then talked about this war without smoke.

Exhibition at the studio.

The World Times reporter.

Structure of Iranian intelligence

Iran¡¯s intelligence agency¡¯s architecture (Source: Boho Studios)

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, Iran has established numerous independent intelligence agencies in the government, military and police departments, respectively, in response to multiple threats from within and outside, and by 2024, the total number of Iranian intelligence agencies has reached "surprisingly" 16.

In order to better coordinate and govern a huge number of intelligence systems, Iran established the Intelligence Coordination Committee shortly after the revolution, which nominally overrides all intelligence services and reports directly to the Supreme Leader.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) emphasized in its 2019 security report that "in the more than four decades since the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution, the scale, functions and influence of Iran's intelligence system have grown significantly. The system has the ability to perform complex operations globally in response to potential threats to the Iranian regime and national interests."

Magid Hadmi, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards intelligence organization in Iran (Source: Tasnim News Agency)

However, such a huge and complex intelligence system structure has also led to the problems of overlapping functions, redundant staff and inefficiency in various intelligence agencies in Iran.

According to the analysis of the briefing issued by the U.S. Institute of Peace under the U.S. government, Iranian intelligence agencies compete with each other and even struggle internally in terms of resources and influence. Among all intelligence agencies, the two most powerful forces are the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, which is nominally affiliated to the government, and the intelligence organization of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

According to Pentagon statistics, as of 2019, Iran's intelligence ministry has about 30,000 personnel. Its priorities are internal security and combating enemy infiltration activities inside Iran.

The Pentagon alleges that Iran's intelligence service is linked to dozens of assassinations and attacks, such as the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Intelligence Organization "focuses on military-type intelligence work," and its responsibilities also include preventing terrorist attacks and foreign political interference. The intelligence organization was mainly responsible for Iran's military intelligence work during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War.

"Make up for the dead" and strengthen safety measures

Members of Iran's National Defense Council include leaders of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, President Pezehizyan (center), Judicial Director Gulam Hussain Ejei (left), and Speaker of the Parliament Kalibaf (right). (Source: BBC)

According to reports from many Iranian media, due to the serious "decapitation" attack on the Iranian military command in the early days of the Israeli-Iraqi conflict, although the Iraqi military system still retains combat effectiveness and quickly organizes a large-scale counterattack, its command chain is still temporarily in considerable chaos, exposing shortcomings in protecting senior commanders and command chains.

On August 3, Iran's Supreme National Security Council approved the establishment of a National Defense Commission, which is mainly responsible for reviewing national defense plans and consolidating the combat capabilities of the armed forces.

The Iranian "Tehran Times" noted that the establishment of the Defense Commission was aimed at drawing lessons from the conflict, so that the leadership can maintain consensus in the face of persistent security threats, maintain the state of combat readiness, and at the same time speed up the making of major decisions.

Among the members of the Iranian National Defense Council, two representatives directly under the Supreme Leader, Shamkhani (right) and Akbar Ahmadinan (left), both of whom have close ties with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Photo source: Yitong News Agency)

The Iranian government has also significantly stepped up its efforts to crack down on infiltration activities and has continuously issued statements to execute spies. This series of actions has been interpreted by Western media as a deterrent to "people with different hearts."

According to the Associated Press, since June, the Iranian government has announced that nine prisoners have been directly executed for espionage, but the number of others convicted for affecting national security may exceed 1,000. According to the Associated Press, because Iran does not report specific execution information, the actual number of spies executed is higher.

The New York Times disclosed that during the Israel-Iraq conflict in June, Israel used its intelligence advantages to successfully carry out "beheading operations" on many occasions against senior Iranian officials, military generals and nuclear scientists. Major omissions in Iran's security field may be related to logistics and security personnel "Illegal use" of mobile communication equipment, and this issue will also become an important area for the Iranian government to rectify.

Reported that on June 16, on the fourth day of the Israel-Iran conflict, Iran's Supreme National Security Council held a meeting in a bunker in western Tehran. Shortly after the meeting began, Israeli Air Force fighter jets aimed at the entrance and exit of the bunker and dropped six bombs in succession.

After the underground work was destroyed, the conference room collapsed, electricity was disrupted, and Iranian President Pezzhiyan was also hit and slightly wounded, and several members of the security team who watched outside were killed.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Iranian President Pezehizyan and representatives of the 14th government. (Source: Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran)

Iran is not unprepared for Israel's operation of tracking electronic equipment. As early as last year after Hezbollah suffered a "pager bomb attack" in Lebanon, senior Iranian officials banned officials from carrying and using electronic devices such as smartphones in sensitive occasions. However, the "mobile phone ban" did not restrict officials 'entourage in the early days of its promulgation.

Iranian political commentator Sassan Karimi said: "Assistants, drivers and security personnel of senior officials and military commanders all have mobile phones, and their awareness of prevention is poor... This is how many people are tracked."

Israel has also found that important Iranian figures are threatened by Israel and often have to deploy many security personnel. These security personnel are not only accustomed to carrying mobile phones, but also like to use social media to post "circles of friends". This kind of negligence has created conditions for Israel's attacks.

Although Iran's top officials tightened regulations after the outbreak of the conflict and required security personnel to go out with only a pair of speakers, there are still violations of the use of mobile devices.

Illegal Afghan immigrants were repatriated from the Iranian port in Khorasan Province in Reza. (Photo source: Yitong News Agency)

At the same time, Iran has also strengthened its management of illegal immigrants and foreign citizens. According to a report by Iran's Mehr News Agency on August 18, Iranian Interior Minister Momeni emphasized that there are more than 6 million Afghan immigrants in the country, including a large number of illegal immigrants. As of mid-August, about 1.2 million illegal immigrants had been forcibly repatriated, and the Iranian Ministry of the Interior aims to increase the number of repatriations to 2 million within the year.

The Iranian government¡¯s launch of massive irregular refugees has been linked to the conflict on the 12th of October, with many Afghan immigrants suspected of spying for money provided by Israeli intelligence agencies, a conflict and the resulting surplus that is pushing Afghan refugees in Iran to a more marginalized position.

Mutamedian, governor of Tehran Province, said that not all immigrants have problems, but no country will accept illegal immigrants without restrictions. "More than 50% of foreign immigrants live in Tehran Province, which is very sensitive and even urgent for state agencies and security departments. It is inevitable for Iran to repatriate illegal immigrants. After the large-scale repatriation, we have seen a significant drop in the crime rate in the eastern and western parts of Tehran Province."

Herman, a Chinese merchant who operates China-Iran trade, told Boo View Studios that he and several foreign merchants had been drinking tea in a water smoke shop along the highway during his trip to Hamadan, Iran, but the local police came to the door for more than an hour, carefully checked Herman's visa, passport and other identity information, and also checked the mobile phone and other communications devices.

The local police explained to them that during the conflict, citizens of many countries in Iran, including Afghanistan and India, were arrested by spies bribed by Israeli intelligence agencies. Under the warning propaganda, the owner of the hookah shop was too nervous and suspected that Indian businessmen who were traveling with Herman might install dangerous equipment in the toilet, so the alarm caused a misunderstanding. Herman said that although several months have passed since the Israeli-Iraqi conflict, the Iranian government and society are still relatively "tense", especially when it comes to spies.

Actively implement reverse infiltration

It is worth noting that Iran is also actively pursuing a reverse osmosis program against Israel

The Tehran Times stated on October 8 that Israel is also facing an increasingly serious "espionage crisis."

The number of spying cases exposed to Israel in 2024 has increased by about 400 percent, according to a report by the Israeli National Security Agency, and this number is expected to rise further in 2025 with several Israeli people recently arrested for espionage, accused by authorities of cooperating with the Iranian government.

Iranian Intelligence Minister Khatib stressed that more and more Israelis are willing to cooperate with Iran, either for money or because of strong dissatisfaction with Netanyahu and his government.

According to the Guardian, Iran has used ballistic missiles to attack Israel¡¯s key research facility, the Weizmann Institute, whose photos provided by Israeli spies assisted the target. Although Iranian intelligence efforts to retaliate and assassinate Israeli scientists have been blocked, Iran¡¯s intelligence agencies are accelerating the construction of the intelligence system and continuously gathering information on the location of Israeli key building facilities, preparing for future attacks after potential conflict outbreaks.

The Jerusalem Post that Iran attaches great importance to the establishment of spy networks in Israel and continues to intensify the reconnaissance and tracking of high-ranking Israeli officials, whose spies have previously even tried to install surveillance cameras near the residence of the Israeli defense minister.

Israeli spy expert Josh Melman said in an interview: ¡°Many of the Israeli citizens recruited by Iran are marginalized, but it is worrying that a country that continually calls for the destruction of Israel can also continue to penetrate into Israeli society.¡±

Melman emphasized that the continuous improvement of the efficiency of Iran's reverse infiltration into Israel is related to the country's gradually collapsing social and political system. Israeli society is losing cohesion due to protracted conflicts and contradictions.

Source: Boguan Studio