Another official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been interrogated in Iran by Israel’s international Mossad intelligence organization, Iran International reported Thursday.
During the hours-long interrogation, Yadullah Khedmati – who serves as deputy chief of the IRGC Logistics Division — provided information about the transfer of weapons to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, the Saudi-backed news outlet reported.
In a video recorded during the interrogation, Khedmati confirmed his role in the IRGC and spoke about Brigadier General Ali Asghar Nowrozi, the commander of the department, Iran International said in the group’s Farsi-language website.
Khedmati allegedly said In the video, which was published in Iranian media, “My name is Yadollah Khedmati and I work for the logistics department of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under the command of Norowzi.
“Norowzi is the man behind all the transfers of missiles, weapons and drones from the logistics department of the IRGC to neighboring countries and Hezbollah, and I work in Norowzi’s office and very much regret what I’m doing.
“I shouldn’t have done that, and I recommend all my coworkers to stop as well,” he concluded.
One of the operations under Nowrozi’s command involved the 2019 transfer of arms from Iran to Hezbollah via Syrian airports including the “T4, Shayrat, Hamat and Damascus International Airports.”
Khedmati was subsequently “released safely” and returned to his home by those who captured him, Iran International reported.
This past May, Mansour Rasouli, a member of the IRGC’s Quds Force Unit 840 was also captured and interrogated by Mossad agents in Iran.
Rasouli, who was tasked with killing an Israeli diplomat in Turkey, an American general in Germany, and a French journalist, confessed to his assigned mission and the payment he was promised, in a recording of the interrogation. He reportedly was released following the interrogation and currently resides in Europe, Ynet reported.
The information provided by the interrogations led to the seizure by Argentine authorities of a plane owned by Emtrasor Company, a subsidiary of Konoyasa State Transportation Company in Venezuela, which is sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.
The plane was piloted by an IRGC officer, arrested by Argentine authorities along with his crew. The officer turned out to be Gholamreza Ghasemi, one of the managers of Qeshm Fars Air. Qeshm Fars Air is one of the airlines used by Nowrozi to send arms to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies.
“The pilot’s mobile phone contains photos of combat equipment such as missiles and warplanes and the tools to carry out such operations,” said Gerardo Milman, a member of Argentina’s parliament and a former deputy minister of the country’s internal security ministry.
The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires subsequently announced in a statement that one of the Iranians aboard the Venezuelan plane seized in Argentina was a member of the IRGC Quds Force. In its statement, the Israeli embassy expressed concern over the continued cooperation of the Mahan Air and Qeshm Fars Air with the IRGC’s Quds Force in arms transfer operations.
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