Iran Focus
Berlin, 25 Jul – German’s domestic intelligence service has published a new report in which it says that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry is actively spying in Germany, targeting primarily supporters of its main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and the broader opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV), said in its annual report that in 2014, the period covered by the report, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) also spied on German targets.
“Spying and fighting against opposition movements in Iran and abroad remains one of the most important points of concentration of the Iranian regime’s intelligence apparatus. Therefore, these intelligence systems are gaining political, economic and scientific information in Western countries”, the BfV said.
“Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) remains the most important element behind the activities against Germany. Its focus is especially on the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran and National Council of Resistance of Iran. Alongside these intelligence and reconnaissance measures against German systems and equipment inside and abroad, first and foremost the interests of Germany’s long-term objectives lie in the fields of foreign policy and security”, it said.
The BfV also elaborated on Tehran’s tactics for targeting its opponents:
“At first controlling intelligence activities to obtain information is carried out by the main base of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security in Tehran. To reach this goal, the MOIS especially uses family and/or work visits to Iran by individuals who are on this ministry’s list of targets. The reason is that in Tehran it is less possible for them to get loose of the MOIS, and this is a perfect preset for intelligence system conditions and activities”.
“Simultaneously, the main and legal center of Iran’s MOIS in Berlin carries out very important activities and tasks focusing on intelligence gathering. This includes supporting and pursuing intelligence operations ordered by the MOIS base; (these operations) are mainly against targets in Germany, but in various cases they are against individuals or facilities in European countries. Colleagues in Iran’s consulates in Germany have a duty to support the MOIS central and legal base”.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatuses are the main tools used by senior officials to guarantee their hegemony; under such conditions the Iranian opposition remains under the watch of the MOIS”, the report added.
