Elite Iranian agent
arrested in Iraq
Admits smuggling insurgents,
weapons through border
Posted: January 22, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
An agent of Iran's prestigious Jerusalem Force was arrested in Iraq carrying money and planning attacks against U.S. troops, sources said.
U.S. Coalition forces arrested members of an underground armed group operating in Iraq's eastern Diyala province Thursday. Among them was a senior member of the Jerusalem Force carrying $150,000 in cash, said the sources.
The Iranian agent, along with an Iraqi insurgent, reportedly revealed during interrogation the location of a group of other Iranian agents working with them and admitted to having smuggled the group and their weapons through the Iran-Iraq border, avoiding security controls.
The Jerusalem Force is a specialized, elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that reportedly oversees Iran's military activities in other countries.
The arrests follow the confession earlier this week of Col. Muayed Al-Nasseri, an insurgent leader and former head of Saddam Hussein's "Army of Muhammad," who told U.S. interrogators Iran was the principle financer of the insurgency in Iraq.
Al-Nasseri's confession was broadcast on an Iraqi television station operating from the United Arab Emirates, Al-Fayhaa TV, and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
"Many factions of the resistance are receiving aid from the neighboring countries," Al-Nasseri said. "We in the Army of Muhammad – the fighting has been going on for almost two years now, and there must be aid, and this aid came from the neighboring countries. We got aid primarily from Iran. The truth is that Iran has played a significant role in supporting the Army of Muhammad and many factions of the resistance. I have some units, especially in southern Iraq, which receive Iranian aid in the form of arms and equipment."
Al-Nasseri also said another resistance group actually traveled to Iran to pick up arms and cash and to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "As for other factions of the resistance, I have reliable information regarding the National Islamic resistance, which is one of the factions of resistance, led by Colonel 'Asi Al Hadithi. He sent a delegation to Iran from among the people of the faction, including General Halaf and General Khdayyer. They were sent to Iran in April or May and met with Iranian intelligence and with a number of Iranian leaders and even with Khamenei."
Al-Nasseri said the group picked up $1 million and two cars full of weapons.
They still have a very close relationship with Iran," he said. "They receive money, cars, weapons and many things. According to my information, they even got car bombs." |
