Iran Military Forum

Why Can’t Iran Protect its Scientists?


Ehsan Mehrabi , insideIRAN.org, February 7, 2012     
 

The recent assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an Iranian nuclear scientist, took place while the cases on previous similar assassinations are still open. According to Iranian sources, Ahamdi Roshan was accompanied by a bodyguard, who was killed in the incident as well. Why wasn’t the bodyguard able to do more to prevent the assassination?

The recent assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an Iranian nuclear scientist, took place while the cases on previous similar assassinations are still open. According to Iranian sources, Ahamdi Roshan was accompanied by a bodyguard, who was killed in the incident as well. Why wasn’t the bodyguard able to do more to prevent the
assassination?

Perhaps it would be interesting to look at the composition of the Iranian nuclear scientist’s bodyguards. Iranian nuclear scientists are currently being protected by a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the Sepah Hefazate Ansar, Ansar Protection Corps. During my time as a political journalist and the editor of the Sokhangooyeh Do’alat, the official website for the Iranian government, I traveled around with former President Mohammad Khatami and spoke with many individuals belonging to this division. I have also conducted research on the Ansar Protection Corps. I interviewed one of the commanders of this division with the aim of publishing the conversation. However, due to security precautions, the interview was never published.

The Ansar Protection Corps is responsible for protecting the Islamic Republic’s officials. The composition of this division is decided by the country’s National Security Council. This council decides on who needs to be protected and what the level of protection should be.

The number of bodyguards allocated to an individual is a sign of his security ranking. For example, the Interior Minister may have 10 to 15 bodyguards allocated to him, but the Education Minister only has three bodyguards. Following the assassination of a few nuclear scientists, the responsibility for protection of these individuals was also given to the Ansar Protection Corps. After a government directive, the Ansar division of the IRGC was asked to allocate some of its manpower to protecting the country’s scientists.

Nevertheless, there are two reasons behind the failure of the Ansar Protection Corps to prevent the assassinations. The first reason is that the National Security Council has chosen a low level security status for the scientists, and some of these individuals only have one bodyguard. The second reason is the low aptitude of the scientists’ bodyguards. For better understanding the training level of these individuals, we only have to look at the history behind the formation of the Ansar Protection Corps.

During the early days of the Islamic Revolution and following the assassination of some Iranian officials by opposition groups, the decision was made to form a more serious structure for protecting the officials. The majority of the assassinations during those days took place by the hands of individuals who infiltrated the political parties and the Islamic Republic government’s structures. Therefore, rather than focusing on their abilities, the government officials hired bodyguards who they could completely trust. If the weapons, handed out for their protection, fell into the wrong hands, then they might have become the source of their assassinations. Eventually this structure expanded and became an official division of the IRGC.

Ehsan Mehrabi is a distinguished Iranian journalist who has worked as the parliamentary reporter for the reformist newspapers Etemad Meli and Tose’eh, and as a reporter and political editor for Hambastegi newspaper. During his career he has interviewed many Iranian military commanders and officials. He left Iran a few months ago.

The above article was published in insideiran.org on February 6th, 2012.




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