IRGC chief warns of spy war as new intel head takes over in Iran
The comments were made against the backdrop of an unexpected shakeup within the IRGC's intelligence wing following a series of breaches.
According to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, hostile foreign spy agencies are waging a war of intelligence against the Islamic Republic.
"Our Intelligence Protection Organization is engaged in a direct confrontation with the skilled and experienced intelligence agencies of the arrogance," he declared, using a term common in the Islamic Republic's political literature to describe Iran's enemies, on top of them Israel and the United States.
Salami referred to such a war as "the most real and closest" battle Iran has faced in years, but vowed that in the meantime, Tehran will carry on "until the dusk falls on the enemies."
The IRGC commander was speaking at a ceremony in Tehran on June 30, where he inaugurated Gen. Majid Khademi as the new chief of the IRGC's Intelligence Protection Organization, which is tasked with preventing security breaches in the elite force.
