Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Lauds IRGC Move to Arrest Zam

Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi praised the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) recent success in arresting Ruhollah Zam, the head of an anti-Iranian website and Telegram channel, saying the IRGC forces have acted wisely.

“In the past, we had stated that the activities and operations of some networks (in cyberspace) have nothing to do with providing information, advertising, or media,” Vaezi told reporters in the northern province of Semnan on Sunday.

“They, including Amadnews, play into the hands of the enemy,” he added, referring to the counter-revolutionary website “www.amadnews.org” and Telegram channel “Amadnews”.

“Today, it became clear to our people, even people from other countries, and officials, that the network was working for the enemy’s (spy) services,” the official said.

The IRGC forces have acted very well and managed to bring someone who had betrayed their people into the country with “a very complicated and wise plan”, Vaezi added.

On Tuesday, the IRGC announced in a statement that in a “complicated” operation, it had managed to arrest the administrator of a website “directed and supported by France’s intelligence service”.

The IRGC emphasized that Zam had been running extensive psychological warfare in recent years with direct logistical support of foreign intelligence services and counter-revolutionary agents outside the country in order to sow discord inside Iran, stoke Iranophobia, disseminate lies, foment doubt among the younger generation about religious beliefs, prepare the ground for acts of violence and terror and create chaos and unrest inside the country.

“This evil mercenary element” was busted during a “sophisticated” intelligence operation, according to the IRGC statement.

“Despite being under the guidance of the French intelligence service and the support of the US and Zionist intelligence services…, and being guarded round the clock by various means and covers, he fell into a trap laid by… the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization,” the statement read.

Amadnews was suspended by the messaging app Telegram last year after Iran accused it of carrying calls for violence during protests that started in late 2017 and continued across the country. But the channel soon reappeared under a new name.