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Iran's Insurgencies Swell Amid Continuing Proxy Wars with Saudis

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Iran's Insurgencies Swell Amid Continuing Proxy Wars with Saudis August 7, 2016 15 News & Analysis Iran Iran’s insurgencies swell amid continuing proxy wars with Saudis Ed Blanche Faisal, called for “the downfall of gained prominence on the battle- the Iranian regime”. The plea was field, external powers have taken made at a Paris conference of the a greater interest in them. Com- Beirut Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), an op- bined, these factors help to explain position group that helped Ayatol- the revival of Kurdish insurgencies ne of the first things that lah Ruhollah Khomeini secure his in Iran.” Iran’s new armed forces Islamic revolution in 1979 and then Internal security threats in Iran chief, Major-General turned against him. tend to be under-reported because Mohammad Hossein The prince’s call to arms was of- of regime restrictions but that en- Bagheri, pledged when fensive enough for Tehran but to gagement was only one of many Ohe was appointed by Supreme do so at a gathering of the clerical skirmishes in recent months be- Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regime’s sworn enemies, how- tween non-Shia Iranian insurgent was to reassure his countrymen ever past their prime they may groups and the IRGC. that simmering insurgencies on be, incensed the Iranian leader- On June 29th, the semi-official the Islamic Republic’s periphery ship. Mohsen Rezaie, a former Is- Fars news agency reported the Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal looks on during the National Council were “under complete control”. lamic Revolutionary Guards Corps IRGC killed 11 Kurdish “coun- of Resistance of Iran (CNRI) annual meeting in Le Bourget, near However, he stressed that these (IRGC) commander and currently ter-revolutionary bandits” and Paris, last July. “anti-revolutionary groups” are secretary of the powerful Expedi- lost three of its own men in the increasingly operating from “the ency Council, said this proved Ri- Sarvabad region of Iranian Kurd- soil of neighbouring countries” — a yadh was actively supporting ter- istan. The IRGC said it killed 17 forces, for now at least. the minority Shias are dominant, clear swipe at Saudi Arabia, Iran’s rorism in Iran, primarily through insurgents in earlier fights in West The Saudis may well be support- holds most of the kingdom’s oil. rival as the paramount power in its consulate in Erbil, capital of Azerbaijan province, which, like ing insurgents in Iran’s overwhelm- Khamenei’s appointment of the Middle East and a hint that Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish Kurdistan, borders Iraq, where IR- ingly Sunni Sisten-Baluchistan Bagheri, one of Iran’s youngest Tehran’s patience is wearing thin enclave. GC-controlled militias are battling province who recently escalated generals with a background in the as the confrontation between Rezaie claimed that the Saudis the ISIS, Iran’s other key enemy. their long rebellion that, only a murky world of intelligence and these two titans of the Muslim had infiltrated “two terror cells” couple of years ago, looked like it an advocate of special operations world veers towards open conflict. into Iranian Kurdistan, a long-time Khamenei’s had been all but extinguished in a beyond the Islamic Republic’s bor- The power struggle between flashpoint, all of whom had been appointment of ruthless IRGC campaign. Four Ira- ders, suggests that this clandestine these two states — one a Sunni Is- killed by Iranian security forces. Bagheri suggests that nian border guards were killed July struggle is likely to escalate. lamic monarchy and the other a He was apparently referring to this clandestine 6th in the region that borders Pa- Bagheri, 51, “enjoys close re- Shia republic — is being fought by a mid-June clash with fighters of struggle is likely to kistan. lations with the IRGC’s al-Quds proxy in Syria. the Democratic Party of Iranian There is trouble too in south- Force, the elite branch responsible Kurdistan (PDKI), one of several escalate. eastern Khuzestan province, an for extraterritorial operations, and Rezaie claimed that insurgencies Tehran is having to Arab-majority region that borders he reportedly planned and helped the Saudis had contend with throughout its bor- The left-wing PDKI claims it Iraq and is of vital strategic impor- execute missions deep inside Iraq infiltrated “two terror derlands. killed 20 IRGC personnel. The tance to Tehran since it produces in the 1990s, targeting Kurdish cells” into Iranian The threat is likely to grow as group, which waged a deadly in- 80-90% of Iran’s oil. The Arab in- groups based there,” observed Far- Kurdish groups in Iraq, Turkey surgency in 1989-96, resumed its surgency there also would be open zin Nadimi, a Washington-based Kurdistan. and Syria are empowered by the fight for autonomy from the Shia to Saudi interference. specialist in Iranian security and war against the Islamic State (ISIS). regime in the autumn of 2015. The Arab Struggle Movement defence affairs. But, as Riyadh throws its tra- That seems to be spreading to Another faction, the Kurdistan for the Liberation of Ahwaz, the “He is expected to put more stra- ditionally cautious policymaking Iran’s long-restive Kurdish minor- Freedom Party (PAK), announced region that has been the invasion tegic emphasis on tailored special to the winds and pursues a more ity as well. Those are potential al- in April that it, too, was going back corridor for Persians to invade the operations and the intelligence aggressive strategy in the turbu- lies for Riyadh to pressure the Is- on the warpath. On July 12th, PAK’s Arab world since time immemo- collection aspects of the Quds lent region, the prospect of Saudi lamic Republic in the increasingly deputy chief, Hossein Yazdanpan- rial, claimed on June 13th to have Force and other special branches,” support for Tehran’s internal op- toxic regional power struggle. ah, appealed to Riyadh for help. sabotaged an oil pipeline. Nadimi wrote for the Washington ponents — the ever-restive Kurds “The fight against a common en- It is not clear, despite Tehran’s If the Saudis seek to intervene Institute think-tank. in the west, the Arabs in the south- emy has begun to unite Iran’s dis- accusations, to what extent Saudi in such a sensitive region, they “His appointment could there- west and the Sunni Baluchis in the parate Kurdish groups, though var- Arabia is helping these insurgent would, of course, invite retaliation fore mean more military opera- south-east — seems likely to inten- ious factions will inevitably jostle groups but, given Riyadh’s increas- from the Iranians. Riyadh is vul- tions in northern Iraq and perhaps sify. for dominance,” observed the US- ingly toxic relations with Tehran, nerable in that regard because, just even in Pakistan’s portion of Balu- On July 9th, the former director based global security consultancy Saudi support is likely to grow. as Arab Khuzestan contains Iran’s chistan, targeting Iranian Kurdish of Saudi Arabia’s General Intelli- Stratfor in a July 29th analysis. Iran’s highly effective security strategic energy supplies, Saudi and Baluchi insurgent hideouts gence Presidency, Prince Turki al- “Meanwhile, as the Kurds have apparatus is likely to contain these Arabia’s Eastern province, where and training camps.” Lost in the labyrinth: ‘Rogue spy’ Levinson missing in Iran he disappearance of analysts similar to the dysfunction- contacts with the Iranian authori- zens it held for seven Iranians in US Books Robert Levinson, an al relationship between economists ties over cigarette smuggling. Iranian prisons but on Levinson — now 68, ex-FBI employee and traders within financial institu- At Salahuddin’s suggestion — if he is still alive — Tehran merely freelancing for the CIA, tions leading to the 2008 banking this is in an e-mail message Meier authorities reiterated promises of cooperation on Iran’s Kish island in crash. With analysts barred from quotes from Levinson to Silverman deny to find him. 2007 might offer a plot crossing into operations, Jablonski — Levinson booked a twin room in knowledge Meier is no Iran specialist, which Tfor a Hollywood spy movie were it warned Levinson his reports, which the Maryam Hotel, Kish, where the shows in some mistakes (Akbar not for the incompetence he sent to her home rather than of- island’s “free trade” status meant of what Hashemi Rafsanjani was not a can- involved. fice, needed a “different prism”. he would not need a visa. happened to didate in the 2009 presidential elec- Missing Man, the recent book by As well as Venezuela, which Lev- Once in the hotel, the pair were Levinson. tion; the former Hilton in Tehran is New York Times journalist Barry inson knew well, the Illicit Finance separated. Salahuddin later told now the Esteghlal). Gareth Meier, tells the story with mate- Group was interested in how Iran Silverman by phone he was taken More importantly, he does not Smyth rial, including e-mail, although he dealt with sanctions over its nuclear away by security and when he draw an obvious conclusion from cannot explain what happened to programme. returned the next morning Lev- the Levinson affair: That Levinson. Veteran broadcaster Ira Silverman inson was gone. Iranian intelligence, with “Former agency employees who put Levinson in touch with a black Iranian authorities deny its traditional emphasis on have given me their take on the American fugitive and Muslim con- knowledge of what happened human tradecraft rather affair all think it was a debacle,” a vert in Tehran, Dawud Salahuddin to Levinson. In 2010 Silverman than technology and high former US counterterrorism analyst (given name David Belfield), who received by e-mail a video spending, remains a formi- told The Arab Weekly. “They specu- had fled to the Islamic Republic in showing him as a frail hostage dable foe.
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