The unexpected sacking of Hossein Taeb, head of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization, has been tantamount to an 8-magnitude earthquake that shook the mullahs’ regime to its very core with aftershocks continuing as we speak.
The importance and consequences of this sacking becomes all the more relevant due to the significance of the IRGC Intelligence Organization (IO), and the special position and influence enjoyed by Taeb among the regime’s senior elite.
It is common knowledge that the IRGC is the main pillar of the religious theocracy ruling Iran, and the IO plays a vital role in the IRGC.
This very organization is described as the main entity behind the regime’s domestic crackdown and assassinations abroad, and in recent years the IRGC-IO has surpassed the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) in these fields.
Taeb himself had a special position in the IRGC and the regime in its entirety. Firstly, he held the post for 13 years.
Secondly, he is considered one of the closest security officials to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba.
As a result, despite the fact that many senior IRGC official had come and gone through the years, Taeb had developed into a somewhat untouchable persona for himself.
Following Taeb’s sudden sacking, Iran’s political atmosphere has witnessed numerous other dismissals and shuffling among the IRGC’s senior ranks, each having their own consequences.
Reports of the dismissal and imprisonment of Brigadier General Ali Nasiri, one of the former senior IRGC security officials and responsible for the protection of Khamenei and his family, have been massive to say the least.
While regime officials and state media have been busy denying these reports, experience shows that such denials are part of the regime’s modus operandi when confronting harsh realities.
Furthermore, Nasiri’s sacking/imprisonment further signals the depth of this crisis for this regime, reaching the very officials and circles involved in protecting Khamenei himself.