The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, وزارت اطّلاعات جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Vezarat-e Ettela'at Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran) is the primary

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of inf ...

of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a member of the Iran Intelligence Community. It is also known as VAJA and previously as VEVAK (''Vezarat-e Ettela'at va Amniyat-e Keshvar'') or alternatively MOIS. It was initially known as SAVAMA, after it took over the Shah's intelligence apparatus

SAVAK SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prim ...

. The ministry is one of the three "sovereign" ministerial bodies of Iran due to nature of its work at home and abroad.

History

Reliable and valid information on the ministry is often difficult to obtain. Initially, the organization was known as SAVAMA, and intended to replace

, Iran's intelligence agency during the rule of the

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

, but it is unclear how much continuity there is between the two organizations—while their role is similar, their underlying ideology is radically different. It is suspected that the new government was initially eager to purge SAVAK elements from the new organization, but that pragmatism eventually prevailed, with many experienced SAVAK personnel being retained in their roles. Former SAVAK staff are believed to have been important in the ministry's infiltration of left-wing dissident groups and of the

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused ...

. The formation of the ministry was proposed by Saeed Hajjarian to the government of

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh ( fa, میرحسین موسوی خامنه, Mīr-Hoseyn Mūsavī Khāmené, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the forty-ninth and last Prime Minister of Ira ...

and then the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. There were debates about which branch of the state should oversee the new institution, and the other options apart from the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by ...

were the Judiciary system, the Supreme Leader, and

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

. Finally, the government got the approval of

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

to make it a ministry, but a restriction was added to the requirements of the minister: that he must be a doctor of Islam. The ministry was finally founded on 18 August 1983, either abandoning, silently subsuming, or relegating to hidden existence many small intelligence agencies that had been formed in different governmental organizations. The five ministers since the founding of the ministry, have been

Mohammad Reyshahri Mohammad Reyshahri ( fa, محمد ری‌‌شهری), also known as Mohammad Mohammadi-Nik (29 October 1946 – 21 March 2022), was an Iranian politician and cleric who was the first Minister of Intelligence, serving from 1984 to 1989 in the c ...

(under Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi),

Ali Fallahian Ali Fallahian ( fa, علی فلاحیان , born 23 October 1949) is an Iranian politician and cleric. He served as intelligence minister from 1989 to 1997 under the presidency of Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. Early life and education Fallahian was b ...

(under President

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...

Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi ( fa, قربانعلی دری نجف‌آبادی; born 3 December 1950) is an Iranian politician and cleric. He is currently a member of the Assembly of Experts and also a member of the Expediency Discernment Counc ...

(under President

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 ...

, resigned after a year),

Ali Younessi Ali Younesi (born 26 August 1955) is an Iranian politician, who served in different positions. Education Younesi is a graduate of the Haqqani school in Qom. Career Following the Islamic Revolution, Younesi became the head of the Islamic Revo ...

(under President Khatami, until 24 August 2005),

Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i ( fa, غلامحسین محسنی اژه‌ای, Ğolām-Hoseyn Mohseni Eže'i, ; born 29 September 1956) is an Iranian conservative politician, Islamic jurist and prosecutor who currently serves as Chief Justice of I ...

(under President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

, from 24 August 2005 to 24 August 2009) and

Heyder Moslehi Heydar Moslehi (born 1957 in Isfahan) is an Iranian cleric and politician who served as the minister of intelligence from 2009 to 2013. Early life and education Moslehi was born in Shahreza in the Isfahan province, Iran, in 1957. He was a stud ...

(under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, from 29 August 2009 to 15 August 2013).

"Chain" assassinations

In late 1998, three dissident writers, a political leader and his wife were killed in Iran in the span of two months. After great public outcry and journalistic investigation in Iran and publicity internationally, prosecutors announced in mid-1999 that one

Saeed Emami Saeed Emami ( fa, سعید امامی; né Saeed Eslami; (1958–1999) was the Iranian deputy minister of intelligence under Ali Fallahian, and adviser to the Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi. He was appointed as deputy minister in security affairs an ...

had led "rogue elements" in Iran's intelligence ministry in the killings, but that Emami was now dead, having committed suicide in prison. In a trial that was "dismissed as a sham by the victims' families and international human rights organisations", three intelligence ministry agents were sentenced in 2001 to death and twelve others to prison terms for murdering two of the victims. Two years later, the Iranian Supreme Court reduced two of the death sentences to life.

Foreign executions

Massoud Molavi Verdanjani, an on-line opposition activist, was shot and killed on a street in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

's Shishli neighborhood on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. A Turkish security official later claimed Verdanjani's suspected killer had confessed to acting under the orders of two Iranian intelligence officers at the Iranian consulate in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. On April 20, 2022, According to a statement issued by the semi-official Fars news agency, Iran's intelligence ministry stated it had captured three Mossad spies.

List of Ministers

References

External links

Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of Intelligence And National Security of Iran 1983 establishments in Iran

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...

Human rights abuses in Iran

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Iranian intelligence agencies Iranian security organisations Ministries established in 1983

History

"Chain" assassinations

Foreign executions

List of Ministers

See also

References

Further reading

External links