Disinformation Campaign in Overdrive: Iran’s VEVAK in High-Gear Professor Daniel M. Zucker

In two prior articles,[i] we looked at the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS = Farsi: VEVAK=Vezarat-e Ettela'at va Amniat-e Keshvar). The following essay is a third installment in what looks to be a growing research project. Reference to the earlier papers is suggested for those new to the subject.

Founded in 1984[ii] and ranked by experts as one of the world’s largest and most active intelligence agencies in the Middle East and possessing a global reach,[iii] VEVAK’s activities and structure are shrouded in mystery, but its presence has been felt keenly with over 450 acts of terrorism carried out in less than a quarter of a century. With an almost unlimited budget, and a command structure reporting direct to the Supreme Leader (Farsi: faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the secretive agency is one of the key pillars of the theocratic regime.[iv] Led from 1999 until mid-2005 by the notorious hanging judge Hojjatol-Islam Ali Younesi,[v] it is now headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s appointee, Hojjatol-Islam Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ezhei, 51, formerly Prosecutor and Judge of the Special Tribunal for Clergy, and formerly Special Prosecutor in the MOIS, as well as a founding official and member of the staff selection board for MOIS[vi]

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