On June 22, Iran’s state media reported about a June 15 meeting in Mashhad between Mohammad Mohammadi Golpaygani, the chief of staff of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei; Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib; the head of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Intelligence Organization Mohammad Kazemi; IRGC Chief Hossein Salami; Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi; and Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian.
The reason that the regime kept such a high-profile meeting secret for a week can be seen in Khamenei’s short message to the regime’s intelligence brass, which was delivered through Golpaygani.
In the message, Khamenei warned about lack of understanding between the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the IRGC Intelligence Organization, and said, “Intelligence is one of the important issues for the regime, and one of our weaknesses in comparison to other intelligence systems is the lack of understanding between this apparatus.”
To cover the intensity of the divide within the regime, Khamenei claimed that there is “serious understanding” at the top of these two organizations, but stressed that there “needs to be cooperation and understanding at all levels” between the MOIS and the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
The high-profile gathering of the regime’s top intelligence officials hints at two important facts:
- There is major disarray at the top levels of authority within the regime
- The regime is facing a critical situation with the threat of major uprisings
Recent events show that Khamenei’s claim that there is “serious understanding” at the top of the regime’s intelligence apparatus isn’t true. Not long ago, Khamenei removed Hossein Taeb after years of serving as the head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization. In retaliation, Taeb lamented about a “generational divide” and disunity within the regime’s structure caused by years of struggle against “the enemy.”
Remarks by Salami at this meeting further proves the divide between these two intelligence organizations: “The MOIS and IRGC Intelligence Organization are two eyes [of the regime] that must project the same image to avoid political astigmatism.”
Kazemi, the head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, who is the target of this disarray and dispute, said that “unity and efficiency” are “the strengths” of the regime and those who try to undermine it are “wittingly following the footsteps of the enemy.”
Mohammad Shirazi, the Chief of Staff of the Commander in Chief spoke of the urgent threat of uprisings and said, “Today, the enemy has risen against the system in full force, and we must counter the enemy’s conspiracies through organizational sympathy.”
Ahmadian, who assumed the role of secretary of the SNSC after Ali Shamkhani, warned against “other mistakes” in the current critical situation. “We don’t have time to dwell on each other’s mistakes,” he said and spoke of the necessity of a “unified strategy” instead of infighting between intelligence organs and officials, especially between the MOIS and the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
Disputes between the MOIS and the IRGC Intelligence Organization is nothing new. But its intensification in the current conditions, to the extent that Khamenei himself must intervene, shows the threat that the regime feels as under the explosive state of the society and the inevitable occurrence of another nationwide uprising.