Iranian national Mahmoud Mousavi Majd has been executed for allegedly spying for the US and Israeli intelligence agencies. Mousavi, who was brought up in Syria, was accused of providing the Americans with the details about Qaseem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Soleimani was assassinated in the US airstrikes on January 3.
As reported by national dailies in Iran, Majd worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US for a compensation of $5,000. He is said to have left Iran in 1979, and was in Syria from where he operated. While rumours made rounds in international media that Majd was a translator for the IRGC, months of investigation following Soleimani's assassination has revealed that he was not part of Iranian army.
Initially employed as a driver, Majd was in close contact with many Iranian advisers in Syria. He performed his duties covertly for Israeli intelligence Mossad and the CIA in States, while he also interpreted on the movements of Soleimani, until the IRGC commander and chief was killed, according to Iran. He had been arrested before Soleimani died. The court had not ruled out the fact that Majd spied on Soleimani, given that the former had a history of spying.
"Seyed Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, who had connections with Mossad and CIA and provided them with intelligence on security issues such as the Guards Quds Force and the location of martyr Qassem Soleimani in exchange for U.S. dollars was sentenced to death by the Revolution Court, and the verdict has been confirmed by the Supreme Court and will be implemented soon[sic] ," Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili had stated on June 9.
The US intelligence units targetted Soleimani near the Baghdad airport, where he was traveling in a convoy. The convoy was blown into pieces in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020. The authorities in the US had already planned the attack a year ago with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declaring IRGC to be a "foreign terrorist organization".
"Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more," the Pentagon had said.
