September 21, 2018
The Pasdaran have released a propaganda film arguing that dual nationals are a huge threat to the existence of the Islamic Republic.
Perhaps unintentionally, the film also exposes deep splits between the Pasdaran’s intelligence arm and its big rival, the Ministry of Intelligence.
According to a tabulation by the Iran Times, more than 20 dual nationals are believed to be detained in Iran, including six Americans and two Iranian-Canadians.
Most of those detained have been accused of espionage. But the real motives behind the arrests have commonly been unclear. One of those detained is a Chinese-American accused of espionage for making copies of documents from the Qajar Dynasty that he was shown by the National Library. That is one of the stranger arrests.
The 21-minute film, produced by the intelligence arm of the Pasdaran, was shown to Majlis deputies and released online. It focuses on the case of Iranian-Canadian Abdolrasoul Dorri-Esfahani, a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team who has been jailed for espionage.
The film is an attack by the Pasdar intelligence arm on the Ministry of Intelligence, which insists Dorri-Esfahani is innocent. It is believed to be the first time such a spat between Iranian intelligence services has been aired in public.
President Rohani’s spokesman, Hesamoddin Ashena, hit back at the film on Twitter, saying its release was “very dangerous” because it brought to public attention an “institutional rivalry” between the two intelligence services.
Ashena made clear that Rohani’s government opposes the arrest of a number of other dual nationals, including environmental activists thrown into prison last January.
The latest report by the UN special rapporteur on Iran submitted in March said the cases against dual nationals were “related to the mere suspicion of anti-state activities with no detailed charge sheets made available nor any victim specified in any of the offences.”
The Pasdaran, allied with the hardline Judiciary, are behind the arrests of most dual nationals.
Dorri-Esfahani, an adviser to the Central Bank, dealt with financial and sanctions aspects of the 2015 nuclear deal. Dorri-Esfahani was arrested by the guards just before boarding a flight destined for Canada and is now serving a five-year jail term.
The Pasdar assessment is that Dorri-Esfahani had been spying. The film reveals no incriminating evidence of espionage, but does assert he was instrumental in seeing the negotiations were successful. That seems improbable, given that he dealt with secondary issues and had nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program.
“One of the aims of these [enemy] countries was to put an infiltrating agent inside our negotiating team,” the film says, describing Dorri-Esfahani’s actions as “one of the most complex spying cases” Iran has ever seen.
“Why was a dual national appointed to oversee the most important part of the talks, about the financial and economic issues?” the documentary asks, accusing the former negotiator of providing sensitive economic information to Iran’s enemies through working with multinational firms such as Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), the international accounting firm that the film asserts has links with UK and US intelligence.
“A month after Dorri-Esfahani joins the team, in an unbelievable development, the agreement is reached,” the film says. That would suggest he played a very minor role in the talks that went on for years altogether.
Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran project at the Belgian-based International Crisis Group, said, “In the threat that Trump poses to Iran, the [Pasdaran] sees an opportunity to bolster itself and weaken its political and institutional rivals, painting them as too compromising or compromised….
“The [Pasdaran]’s intelligence branch is as conspiratorial as the Intelligence Ministry is professional. Dual nationals fit the profile of the [Pasdaran]’s favorite conspiracy theories and become pawns in a power struggle between the hardliners and the more pragmatic forces of Iranian politics.”
The film says, “The Islamic Republic has been more harmed by dual nationals than anyone else,” but Vaez said. “At some point, the Islamic Republic will have to acknowledge that, just like Savak under the Shah, their security apparatus is doing them more harm than good.”