Iran announces arrest of 16 oil ministry officials for spying for CIA

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Iran vs CIA oil intrigue is heating up.  Irina Slav on Oil Price main news site is also reporting about this.  But first, here is a less well know reporting:

Iran announces arrest of 16 oil ministry officials for spying for CIA

Iranian state media announced on Sunday the arrest of 16 officials in the country’s Ministry of Petroleum, allegedly for sabotaging Iranian energy policy. It is not known whether these arrests are in any way connected with Tehran’s announcement last week that it had dismantled “one of the most complicated” espionage operations by the United States Central Intelligence Agency in several countries. According to the state-owned Fars News Agency, the 16 officials were arrested over the weekend in synchronized pre-dawn raids. All of them had managerial positions in Iran’s oil industry —including in the areas of exploration, production and distribution of Iran’s oil and petrochemical products inside the country as well as abroad.

The report about the latest arrests cited Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, a senior legislator representing the most conservative political wing in the Iranian parliament. Deligani said that the ministry employees “operated under a woman”, whom he did not name. Working in concert, the employees had been “able to influence […] the oil ministry to put off important decisions” and to “make wrong decisions”. These decisions were “in line with the enemies’ goals and against Iran’s national interest”, and ultimately delivered “a blow to the country in the United States economic war against Iran”, said Deligani. He did not elaborate on the topic and did not discuss whether the arrests were linked to the dismantling of an alleged CIA cyber espionage operation, which Iran announced last week.

Sunday’s announcement by the Fars News Agency comes two days after the execution of Jalal Haji Zavar, an employee of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, which operates under the Iranian a unit of the Ministry of Defense. Zavar was executed on Friday after a military court found him guilty of having committed espionage against Iran on behalf of the CIA. Media reports said that unspecified incriminating documents and “spying equipment” were found in Zavar’s home.

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

And here is reporting on this by Irina Slav on the main Oil Price news site:

Iran Uncovers Spy Team At Oil Ministry: Farsnews

The Iranian security forces have arrested a group of people that Iranian media report were trying to influence officials at the country’s oil ministry into “putting off important decisions” and “making wrong decisions” to the benefit of the United States.

According to Fars News, which cited a senior legislator, the spy team “operated under a woman who had been able to influence 16 important and influential managers of the oil ministry to put off important decisions in the ministry and hit a blow to the country in the US economic war against Iran.”

The arrests followed the execution of a former employee of the Aerospace Industries Organization—a unit of the Defense Ministry—for working for the U.S. and the CIA, specifically.

"It is interesting to know that a while ago, the Iranian intelligence apparatus discovered and cracked down on one of the most complicated cyber networks of the CIA which was used for cyber spying and was an important part of the CIA's operational capacities in the countries targeted by the US," said the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani.  ...

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

That place is starting to sound like America.  Now there is some Bogeyman behind every tree, under every bed.  Better go arrest them, they could be the Bogeyman.  Next thing you know, that Iranian Government is going to hire itself a TSA, to check for CIA agents boarding airplanes with that cyber-espionage gear.