Iran claims discovery of "Spy Networks"

According to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry that is. I wonder if these so called "agent provocateurs" have had any contact with the following: Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Parnaz Azima, Kian Tajbakhsh, Individual X, or Mr. Ali Shakiri - the most recent Iranian Americans to go missing while visiting relatives in Iran.

Several spy networks serving the “occupiers of Iraq” have been discovered in Iran, the Public Relations Office of the Intelligence Ministry said in a statement released on Saturday.

According to the statement, these networks consisting of agents provocateurs serving the occupiers in Iraq, were active in the western, southwestern and central areas of the country.

The intelligence services of the occupiers were directing these networks, and certain Iraqi groups were supporting them.

The Intelligence Ministry stated that it will soon release more information about the case.

The latest on Dr. Haleh Esfandiari

The Iranian's start naming names and I fear for her friends, relatives and professional colleagues:

Iran's Soros spot.

Iran charged yesterday that a Washington-based academic arrested in Tehran this month was working for a George Soros-backed organization trying to undermine the Islamic state's ruling system. An Intelligence Ministry statement, published by Iran's ISNA news agency, said the program had financial backing from "the famous American Soros center."

It was referring to the Open Society Institute, founded by Soros, a Hungarian-born businessman and philanthropist and major left-wing Democratic donor in the United States. Soros, a fierce critic of President Bush, has given millions of dollars to the liberal Web site MoveOn.org and strongly opposes the Iraq war. Many of his views are controversial, including legalization of some drugs.

The Open Society organization has spent upward of $400 million a year on projects ranging from anti-poverty efforts in Africa to pro-democracy efforts in the former Soviet Union. The institute says it is dedicated to "fostering intellectual exchange between Iran and the outside world," and sponsors discussions in culture, education and public health.

But Tehran said Esfandiari admitted to a different role in Iran.

"In the preliminary interrogations, she said the Soros center in Iran had an unofficial communication network and was trying to develop and expand it to follow up its 'soft revolution' aims," the ministry statement said.

Iranian officials use the terms "soft" or "velvet revolution" to refer to a perceived U.S. plot to use intellectuals and others inside Iran to undermine the Islamic state. Officials say the intellectuals are often invited abroad for "training."

"The long-term and final goal of such centers is to try to enable this network . . . to confront the ruling powers. This model designed by the Americans . . . is following the 'soft revolution' in the country," the statement added.

Wilson Center director Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic Indiana congressman, told The Washington Post, "It's very disturbing. We deny all the charges. There is not one scintilla of evidence to support these allegations."

Iran said Esfandiari was cooperating with authorities to track down those working in the Soros center network.

Judiciary officials previously said the Intelligence Ministry was investigating Esfandiari for suspected "crimes against national security."

The Wilson Center acknowledged receiving some support from the Open Society Institute, but noted that the Soros Foundation, another philanthropy, had donated money to the Iranian government after an earthquake in 2003.

Iran charges Iranian-American academic of seeking to topple regime

From the IHT:



"Soft toppling of the country-by soft hostage."


Iran on Monday charged detained Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari of seeking to topple the ruling Islamic establishment, state-run television reported.

Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May. State TV said she and the Wilson Center were conspiring together to topple the government by setting up a network "against the sovereignty of the country.



This is an American designed model with an attractive appearance that seeks the soft-toppling of the country."

The announcement was the first time Iran said it had officially charged Esfandiari of seeking to overthrow the ruling establishment, a severe security crime. It was not immediately clear when Esfandiari will stand trial or if the trial will be public.

The "crimes" she has purportedly "confessed to"...

The broadcast said Esfandiari confirmed during interrogations that her center "invited Iranians to attend conferences, offered them research projects, scholarships ... and tried to lure influential elements and link them to decision-making centers in America."

She has been denied legal representation, perhaps you can help by sending a letter on her behalf.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the lead attorney for imprisoned American scholar Haleh Esfandiari, charged yesterday that the Iranian government has turned down her request to represent the Potomac resident, refused information on the charges against Esfandiari and denied a legal team access to its client.



Payvand weighs in with an analysis of "root causes" of Dr. Esfandiari's arrest, the context of repression and what the regime could possibly be thinking here. Here's a sample:


The Iranian president has been creating crises - local and international - on a routine basis since he was elected to office in June 2005. Haleh Esfandiari, in the regime's twisted logic, may have seemed an appropriate target for its punishment: in her capacity as director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she had offered fellowships to young scholars from Iran (who are naturally inclined toward reform and democracy). This may have been enough for Tehran's hardliners to have plotted Esfandiari's arrest, enabling them to accuse her (bizarrely) of espionage and undermine their rivals in Iran by associating the latter with her.