Persian – Turkish – Azeri – Kurdish – Arabic
Exclusive to Iran Briefing. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has evolved as a state within the state, which is consistently pursuing its objective of self-aggrandizement (politically and militarily) as well as expanding its power and influence over the Iranian society at large. With this objective in view, the IRGC tries to pick up menial and servile elements and recruits them as its agents. The IRGC aspires to acquire absolute power, with a view to impose its hegemony over the Iranian society, and become its nucleus and leading and guiding force. In this pursuit, it doesn’t even hesitate from exploiting the social service sector by way of creating a network of educational institutions, colleges, research centers and so on. Thus, the IRGC is on a lookout for servile persons who demonstrate the potential of dependence on (and subservience to) it, who could be inducted into such institutions and trained and deployed as operatives of this evil force.
Who is Mansour Haghighatpour?
Mansour Haghighatpour is one of the notorious and powerful figures of the IRGC who, for many years, has been serving as a loyal and menial servant of the IRGC. As a member of IRGC, he was appointed as the bodyguard of Hojjat Al-Islam Mir Naghi Ghazipour, the judge and the general prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Ardabil and Sarab at the same time during the early days of the Islamic Revolution. Hojjat Al-Islam Mir Naghi Ghazipour was notorious for the execution of many young activists in the City of Ardabil & Sarab, during 1980-1989. Among those who were innocently executed from Ardabil were Abdollah Jalali, Zakaria Sirous, and Saeid Sadeghian. He then was recruited as one of Quods Force notorious member targeting Iranians overseas mainly in Turkish speaking countries, and currently he is a member of parliament and the deputy director of National Security Committee.
Mansour Haghighatpour was born in 1959 in southern Tehran [1]. During his childhood, he was given religious education by his family. By the time he reached adulthood, he became a follower of Khomeini and, like his young cohorts, began to read and circulate Khomeini’s writings and the audiotapes of his speeches. Despite the fact that he was born and raised in Tehran, the IRGC fraudulently declared him to be a domicile of Ardabil and thus got him elected as a representative to the Majlis [The Islamic Consultative Assembly] from the constituency of Ardabil and thus arbitrarily imposed him upon the people of the region. He is now a representative in the Ninth Majlis and serves as the second deputy-head of its Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy. The Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy is one of the specialized subject committees of the Majlis which deals with matters assigned to it in the field of foreign policy and relations, internal public policy, local consultative bodies, municipalities, internal security, defense and external security, as well as registration of personal data of citizens. The majority of members of this committee belong to the parliamentary group named Fraksioun–i–Rahrawan–i–Vilayat [The Group of the Followers of the Supreme Leader]. Of the 29 members of the National Security Committee, 20 belong to the parliamentary group of the Followers of the Supreme Leader, and an equal number belong variously to the IRGC, the Quds Brigade, and the Bassej [The Volunteers’ Force].
Career of Haghighatpour till the Capture of Iranian Radio & TV
His activities began during the years 1977-1978 with his participation in religious meetings and distribution of the communiqués of Khomeini. During this time, his main work related to mobilizing the youth towards following Khomeini’s ideas. Sometime in 1978, he became an activist, and with the onset of the Khomeini revolution, he was given the responsibility of making arrangements at Bihisht-i-Zahra [central cemetery of Tehran], which at the time was the place where Khomeini delivered his speeches. All his friends were made members of the reception committee. The next step in his service of the newly established revolutionary regime came on 10-11 February 1979, when he played an active role in the capture of the Iranian Radio & TV and the cantonment of Bagh-i-Shah and the cantonment of Qila Marghi. With the consolidation of the Khomeini revolution, he was made a member of most of the committees formed at that time and ultimately, he was inducted into the IRGC in the year 1980, when he formally employed by the IRGC. He was thereafter attached to the central staff of the IRGC and was sent to Kurdistan and Azerbaijan provinces to play his role in the suppression of the ethnic groups demanding their basic human rights and freedom.
Haghighatpour’s Career as a Terrorist
After the appointment of the Sipahi Mansour Haghighatpour as the Commander of the Airports and National Aviation Security in the year 1986, his active role in arranging logistics of terroristic operations and abduction of opposition figures by the IRGC abroad, and bringing them back through Iranian airports, began. One year later, with the establishments of the “Ramadhan” and “Bilal” Camps (with the objective of organizing terroristic activities inside Iraq), Mansour was transferred to the Bilal Camp in the year 1988, and with the formation of the Quds Brigade thereafter, he was made the commander of the Quds Brigade, Unit 5000, entrusted with the responsibility of planning and launching terroristic operations like abduction and killing of the opponents of the Khomeini regime and members of the opposition who had submitted a request to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees seeking asylum in Turkey. One of the terroristic operations of this unit in 1993 was the abduction and killing of Ali Akbar Qurbani, a member of the Mojahiddeen-i-Khalq Organization (MKO). This terroristic operation, undertaken within the territory of Turkey, is considered to be one of the many operations planned and executed with the collaboration of the Intelligence Ministry and the Quds Brigade. The principal actors of this operation were Mansour Haghighatpour and Ali Akbarian (AKA Akbari).
His Deployment in Southern Iran for Suppression of Opponents
After the start of the Iraq-Iran war in 1980, he was sent to Darkhuwain, Salmaniah, and Maarad regions and was made responsible for the forces stationed on the Salmaniah line. By virtue of his good service rendered to the IRGC, and on the recommendation of the senior commanders of that time, he was given an additional responsibility in a unit named Mubarezah ba Munafiqueen [Combatants against the Traitors], which had the assignment of eliminating the groups opposed to the Islamic Republic. At the same time, he was appointed as the commander of the IRGC at Karaj.
During 1985, he was made the IRGC Commander for Airports and National Aviation Security. The responsibility of organization, training, and equipping of this unit was then transferred from the IRGC to him, as the Senior Commander of this unit.
Meanwhile, he attended the University of Tehran with a scholarship awarded by the IRGC and in due course obtained a B.A. degree in Sociology.
His Terroristic Mission in the Neighboring Countries
During 1987, he was transferred to the Foreign Department of the IRGC and was entrusted with political and cultural research pertaining to the countries of Central Asia, South-west Asia, Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan and other neighboring countries. Moreover, with the objective of promoting the so-called “Islamic” revolution in these countries, he established close contacts with the individuals and groups in this region. Two years later, he was appointed as Military Adviser to the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In that capacity, he was supposed to provide military advice and training to the army of Azerbaijan. In the context of war over Qarabagh, a lot of defence cooperation and training took place between Iran and Azerbaijan, with the IRG playing a pivotal role. Meanwhile, after getting promoted to the rank of brigadier II, he attended the Military Staff College and comfortably obtained a M.A. degree in Defence Management.
His Interference with Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan Republic
Interference with the affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, suppression of the Turkish-origin people of the Azerbaijan province of Iran (who wish to preserve their cultural identity), and distortion and misrepresentation of the language, culture, and history of Azerbaijan, has always been part of the agenda of Mansour Haghighatpour. During the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, he played a role in securing military information from Rahim Qaziov (the erstwhile defence minister) and Roshan Jawadov (a top-ranking military officer of Azerbaijan) and passing it to Armenia. Similarly, he provided logistic and military support from the IRGC to the Armenian forces in consolidating their occupation of Qarabagh.
Recently, in an interview given to the Qanun magazine, he claimed that 17 cities of the Caucasus belong to Iran. Lately, Siyaoush Nourozi, a representative of the ruling party in Azerbaijan parliament, has disclosed the espionage activity of Haghighatpour in Azerbaijan against Azerbaijan, and to the benefit of Armenia. According to the disclosures of the Azerbaijani representative, Haghighatpour travelled to that country early in the 1990’s on the pretext of providing aid to the Azerbaijan army. Later, it became known that he supplied military information to Armenia. According to Haghighatpour, the language of the Turkish-origin people of Azerbijan is the Azeri dialect, which is a branch of Farsi. For almost a century, the central government of Iran has pursued a policy of linguistic and cultural assimilation as well as all-out exploitation of the non-Persian nationalities of Iran. Haghighatpour’s statements are in line with these anti-democratic policies and programmes of the ruling regime in Iran.
A Votary of Daesh (ISIS)-Talibani Brand of Islam
The Islamic ideology of Haghighatpour is not very much different from the Talibani-Daishi brand of Islam. His view of Muhammedan Islam is limited to certain superficial manifestations such as hijab, use of the Islamic calendar, holidays on days of birth and death of imams, the use of the Arabic alphabet, and sexual segregation!
In a letter addressed to Siyaoush Nourozov, an Azerbaijan representative, he writes:
“Mr Nouroz Khan: Some days ago we have celebrated the birthday of our Prophet. I know that this day has not been declared as official holiday in your country. If you are a true Muslim what action have you taken for celebration of this day in the Republic of Azerbaijan? What do you know about the Prophet? Do you know to what extent he paid attention to the dignity off human beings? Do you know what importance did he give to the hijab of women? Isn’t it the same hijab which you have prohibited formally in the secondary schools and informally in the whole of the Azerbaijani Republic? Was it not possible for you to have reacted to the anti-Islamic regulation issued by the education minister of your country and get it withdrawn? Was it not possible for you to get the prohibition of issue of identity certificates with Islamic dress annulled?
“Mr Nouroz Khan: How do you as a member of parliament feel about the lifting of the ban on homosexuality in your country?
“Aren’t you aware of what devastating consequences lie for you in this world and the after-world for your trampling upon the recognized norms of Islam in your quest for getting the membership of the European Union or any other international organization?”
“Mr Nouroz Khan: It was decided that we should meet on Nouroz, the first day of our national calendar. I’m afraid, with the help of the Gregorian calendar which they have given you in place of your national Islamic calendar, can you find out the Nouroz? Have you ever thought why did the Russians take away your Islamic calendar and the Quranic alphabet and give you the Gregorian calendar and the Cyrillic script? Do you enjoy any freedom in your country and in your parliament to speak in this regard? Don’t you know what great harm has been inflicted upon your history and culture by depriving you of your Islamic calendar and the Quranic script? Don’t you want to do something to compensate your loss by restoring your national Islamic calendar which is the same Hijri solar calendar? If you make the parliament in Baku to pass only this measure you would be doing great service to the Muslim people of Azerbaijan by facilitating the celebration of their national days in accordance with their own calendar.”
In Iraq, he oversees the Suppression of Kurds
During the height of the uprising of the Shiites in Iraq, he formed a force to help the Shiites, and after some time he created the “Sitad–i–Kauthar” [Kauthar Centre] under the auspices of the IRGC, and was appointed the head of this organization. It was during the middle of 2004 that it was restructured and renamed as “Bazsazi–i-‘Atabat–i-‘Aliyyat wa Pushtibaniyy–i–Iraq” [Organization for Reconstruction of the Holy Sites and Aid to Iraq]. He has been carrying out his activities in Iraq and other countries of the region, like the Lebanon and Palestine, as the head of the ‘Atabat Organization under the overall supervision of Qasim Sulaimani, Commander-in-Chief of the Quds Brigade, in the garb of providing developmental, technical, social and cultural services to the campuses of the mausoleums of Imam Husain, Imam Ali, the two Imams named Askari, and the two Imams named Jawad. Within a short period of two years, he established a number of popular organizations in Iraq, which became the medium for movements of the IRGC forces to and from Iraq, whose real activities were concealed in the garb of personnel of these religious organizations. Mansour Haghighatpour created a large number of such organizations in the Kurdistan of Iraq, in the garb of commercial and construction companies, with a view to bring about a safe haven for the members of Sipah-i-Badr, Zulfiquar and Quds forces of the IRGC. In addition to providing the best accommodation and equipment to the foreign branches of the IRGC, he has penetrated into Iraqi Kurdish parties and gained their confidence, with a view to planning and carrying out strikes against the offices and centres of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties (such as Komilah and the Democrats) situated there and killing their members. He also founded more than 500 representative offices in this country and tens of foreign offices carrying these names with a provision of more than 800 billion Iranian rials allocated to implement the developmental projects of the ‘Atabat; but actually these sums are spent on underground activities of the IRGC such as terroristic attacks, interference in the internal affairs of the neighborhood and the region, and recruiting local Shiites into the IRGC.
His Anti-Racism and Anti-Turkish and Anti-Azeri Stance
Once again, he pursued an advanced military course at the university, with a scholarship from the IRGC, and successfully obtained a doctorate in Strategic Management. At the same time, the IRGC assigned him the duty of counteracting the movements of local nationalities and religious minorities struggling for their rights. For this purpose, he carried out tens of political, economic, social, and administrative research projects, all of them planned, financed, carried out and published through the IRGC. The most significant projects that Mansour carried out under the auspices of the IRGC include such topics as “An Inquiry into the Emergence of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Azerism”, “An Examination of the Wahhabi Political Thought”, “Studies in the Soft War”, and “A Strategy for Promoting Revolution in Rival Countries”, etc.
In 2009, on the recommendation of the IRGC, he was appointed by the Interior Ministry as the Governor of the Province of Ardabil. During recent years, he has had teaching assignments in the Imam Husain University (affiliated to the IRGC), General Command Academy, and the Islamic Open University, and has had academic association with many universities at home in the fields of geopolitics, political geography of the neighboring countries, and strategic management, etc.
Although Mansour was born and raised in Tehran, the IRGC, by fraudulently declaring him as a domicile of Ardabil, has imposed him on the people of this province as their representative in the Majlids. He has blocked a number of development projects in this province—the most important one of them being the Edabil-Mianeh railway line. He has prevented the implementation of this project by citing the possibility of collapse of tunnels and bridges.
Defending Acid-throwers in Isfahan and Regarding Acid-throwing as a Minor Offense
In 2014, in his capacity as a representative of Ardabil, expressing himself about the incidence of serial acid-throwing in Isfahan and apprehension of acid-throwers, he has raised an accusing finger at the media and held it guilty for the escape of acid-throwers by raising hue and cry over the matter. Asserting that acid-throwing was merely a minor offence, he said: “Acid-throwing is not a new phenomenon in the country. Such incidents have happened in Isfahan and other cities before. But the difference this time is that the media has magnified it. We should not put our national security in jeopardy over such a trivial offence.” Mansour is thus in perfect accord with the conservatives who are near to the supreme leader, and by his false and unrealistic statements, has many a time indirectly defended the acid-throwers who mostly belong to the IRGC and the Baseej.
Expunging Report on Sattar Bihishti’s Murder
In 2012, Mansour Haghighatpour regarded the murder of the blogger Sattar Bihishti as an insignificant event. Defending this crime and the murderer who was a security agent attached to the Cyber Police, he said: “The case of Sattar Bihishti need not be dealt with by the committee. If necessary, the concerned agencies shall take up this issue. At present, no report has been submitted to the National Security Committee.” As a matter of fact, when the report on the murder of Bihishti was presented, members of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee (Haghighatpour being its deputy-head) had expunged portions of it because certain members had raised objection to them. During a later conversation, he ruled out the possibility of his death by torture and asserted that psychological shock over the impending arrest might have caused the death of Sattar Bihishti.
Jeopardizes Relations with Neighbors by Militant Approach
His undiplomatic and ideological approach towards the neighbors, particularly the countries of the Persian Gulf, has been responsible for tension and conflict in this area. Commenting on a visit of the Iranian deputy foreign minister to Saudi Arabia, he said: “Arabistan today is playing an adversarial role in Iraq, Syria, the Lebanon, Bahrain, and lately in the Yemen. The credit for the crimes committed by Daish goes to Arabistan. So in these matters, it is the Saudi office holders who should travel to Iran and seek an appointment for meeting.”
IRGC’s Adviser on Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan Affairs
He is one of the advisers of the supreme leader on affairs of the Turkish-speaking countries, and likewise he is a member of the special committee of the IRGC dealing with recruitment and deployment of spies for penetration into the institutions of Turkish-speaking countries. One of the pet methods of the IRGC, in which Haghighatpour specializes and has many years of expertise, is to penetrate the neighboring countries by way of launching development projects in the name of ‘Atabat and carrying subversive activities in the garb of promoting religious, cultural, commercial contacts as well as tourism.
His Past Assignments under IRGC Patronage
- In charge of security of the meeting place of Khomeini in Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery in 1979.
- Active in the IRGC unit posted in counties of Damavand and
Kermanshah, after the creation of the Construction Jihad Organization by a proclamation of Khomeini.
- Membership of the IRGC and participation in frontline operations.
- Commander of the IRGC unit at Karaj.
- Commander of the IRGC unit for the security of airports and civil aviation in the year 1985.
- In charge of political and cultural research into affairs of Central Asia, Southwest Asia, Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan, and other neighbors.
- Military adviser to the Republic of Azerbaijan during the Qarabagh war.
- Governor of the Province of Ardabil during 2008-2010.
- Lecturer in strategic management in some state and private universities.
His Accomplishments with Assistance from IRGC
- Diploma in Physical Education.
- A. (Sociology), Tehran University.
- A (Defense Management), the General Staff College.
- Doctorate in Defense Studies and National Security (Strategic Management), Military College, Tehran.
- Lecturer at Imam Husain University (IRDC), General Staff College, the Islamic Open University, and member of faculties of different universities in geopolitics, strategic management, and geography of neighboring countries.