Iranian intel chief sacked amid series of failures and mysterious deaths blamed on Israel

The move follows a string of intelligence failures over the past several weeks, both inside and outside Iranian territory.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

Hossein Taeb, longtime chief of intelligence for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was replaced on Thursday amid a series of failures.

An IRGC statement said Taeb was replaced by General Mohammad Kazemi. No reason for the move was given. The statement said Taeb will serve as an advisor to Kazemi.

The move follows a string of intelligence failures over the past several weeks, both inside and outside Iranian territory.

This week, an Iranian terror cell plotting attacks on Israelis was busted by Turkish authorities.

Earlier in June five men aboard an Iranian plane were arrested in Argentina on suspicion of planning similar attacks.

Also in June, an Iranian ballistic missile site in western Tehran was struck by drones.

Two IRGC aerospace officers were killed in a 24-hour period.

And in May, IRGC Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei was shot to death by unknown assailants on motorbikes who ambushed him outside of his home in central Tehran.

Khodaei was the driving force behind failed attempts to lure prominent Israelis to bogus gatherings abroad in order to kidnap them.

In May, the IDF accused the IRGC of endangering lives by smuggling missile components on civilian flights flying into Damascus International Airport. A June airstrike on the airport was widely regarded as an Israeli warning to Tehran not to continue using civilian aircraft for weapons smuggling.

Israel has not confirmed responsibility for those attacks. But it is widely believed responsible for the efforts against Iranian entrenchment in Syria and Tehran’s nuclear program.

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