S1/E36: Intelligence Failure

Iran's Gambit

Today’s program focuses on a story from Jamaran News Agency, which may not be a familiar name to most of you, but it represents a noteworthy institution expressing the perspectives of the household of the late Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. For context, "Jamaran" refers to a village situated on the mountain slopes of northern Tehran, where Grand Ayatollah Khomeini’s compound was located during the Iran-Iraq War. At that time, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini was often referred to as “Pir-e Jamaran,” or the Old Man of Jamaran. While I am not entirely convinced that members of the Khomeini household harbor explicit political ambitions—having lost the post-Khomeini power struggle to Messrs. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei—it seems Mr. Hassan Khomeini, the most prominent figure of the Khomeini clan, is intent on remaining relevant. This is evident in Jamaran News publishing quality interviews with figures who held key public offices in the 1980s.

Yesterday, Jamaran News released an interview with Hojjat al-Eslam Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi, a politician who began his career in the 1980s and rose to prominence under President Hassan Rouhani. Mr. Alavi served as Minister of Intelligence from 2013 to 2021. Now, I can imagine what some of you might be thinking at the mention of a Minister of Intelligence in the Islamic Republic of Iran—perhaps picturing a figure combining Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor with the KGB. Yet, believe it or not, Mr. Alavi is known as an intellectual, and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, for the most part, operates as a professional institution.

Currently, Mr. Alavi serves as an adviser to President Masoud Pezeshkian on matters concerning ethnic minorities, religion, and religious sects. Yesterday, he attended a book launch for a publication titled Oral History Biographies of Nuclear Martyrs, dedicated to Iran’s nuclear scientists who were assassinated, allegedly by Israeli intelligence.