Iran’s dirty secret exposed Thursday 19 May 2016
JEDDAH: Despite the fact that trials are still in progress, Iran’s involvement in the planning of terrorist activities during Haj by exploiting the first pillar of Islam has been shown by the confession of the owner of the Iranian Haj office.
On trial are 30 Saudis, one Afghan and one Iranian, all accused of being members of spy cells related to Iranian intelligence. Evidence of a number of Iranian plots to target the peace and security of the Kingdom, create confusion and spread chaos during Haj has also come to light.
According to a report in a local publication, one of the accused had sent an audio message to the Iranian leader Ali Khamenei asking for financial support to set up a special Shiite center in Makkah. The center would instigate sedition and sectarianism, and provide key information about the Haj season to Iranian intelligence. The center would be helped by Iranian intelligence working with the OIC.
This confession leaves no room for doubt that Iran will not stop its criminal attempts to exploit Haj by spreading discord and hostile slogans. These are designed to divide the Islamic community as has been shown in the trials about other meetings between members of the cells and Khamenei.
Iran will not hesitate to use any means to achieve its nefarious objectives during Haj by instigating sectarian strife. It has held secret meetings with its cohorts in Lebanon, particularly the terrorist organization Hezbollah, in order to plan activities for Haj even if the costs are innocent lives and loss of property.
Tehran has tried to use correspondents of the Al-Alam channel which has its headquarters in Tehran. These correspondents were used in some regions of the Kingdom as was confessed by one of the accused of the spy cell. The aim was to distort the image of the Kingdom, support protests, disrupt activities and cause chaos during Haj.
The channel supported the training of a number of cell members in the use of computers, cameras, encrypted reports, and sending photographic intelligence about gatherings of Haj pilgrims, military sites and official speeches. This has all been conclusively proven. The cell also showed Iran’s serious efforts to obtain confidential information on the Kingdom’s defense installations, which could affect national security, unity and the safety of Saudi Arabia and its armed forces.
A number of elements of the cell confirmed their meeting with Khamenei, in coordination with Iranian intelligence, and admitted to their efforts to commit destructive activities against the interests of the Kingdom, and against vital economic facilities in the country, disturb peace and security, harm social unity by spreading chaos and indulge in hostile activities against the Kingdom.
Most of these elements traveled to Iran and Lebanon, held meetings with elements of Iranian intelligence and received training in espionage. These meetings were held in a number of different locations.
Despite Iran’s concerted efforts to shake the peace and security of GCC states, and particularly the Kingdom, there has been coordination between the heads of intelligence and the Ministry of Interior which led to the successful arrest of these elements of the spy network.
The ministry announced that the arrests were made in coordinated security operations in four regions of the country: Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh and the Eastern Province.
The statement said that the arrested were in contact with Iranian intelligence and had collected information about vital installations in Saudi Arabia.
http://www.arabnews.com/news/iran%E2...secret-exposed
Iran’s intent to politicize Haj exposed May 19, 2016
RIYADH — A Saudi defendant, among the 32 people accused of spying for Iran, confessed that he had sent a voicemail message to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei seeking financial support to establish a special center for Shiites in Makkah.
The defendant, who owned a Haj service company, said he was planning to use the center to instigate chaos among various Muslim sects during the pilgrimage.
He said he had supplied Iran with security information about the 2012 Haj in collaboration with an Iranian intelligence element who was part of the Iranian permanent mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The suspects — consisting of 30 Saudis, an Iranian and an Afghan national — were apprehended in March-May 2013. They are standing trial before a special criminal court in Riyadh.
According to observers, the confessions of the spies were proof of Iran’s nefarious designs aimed at exploiting Haj to undermine the Kingdom’s security and stability and sow dissension among Muslims.
A number of defendants admitted that they had traveled to Iran where they met the Supreme Leader himself and had also visited Lebanon for meetings with Iranian intelligence elements.
Iranian officials in charge of Haj affairs had refused to sign the minutes of the meeting with Saudi officials to facilitate the arrangements for pilgrims.
The Council of Ministers condemned this act and said Iran was politicizing Haj and is solely responsible for preventing its citizens from performing Haj.
During his trial, a Saudi defendant said he was assigned to look for correspondents to the Iranian Al-Alam space channel to send misleading reports against the Kingdom.
Another defendant confessed that he was asked to provide Iranian intelligence elements with classified information about the Kingdom’s military and economic institutions.
Some of the accused said they received training on the use of espionage equipment in Lebanon, Iraq and Indonesia.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-ara...e-haj-exposed/
Iran flayed for Haj antics Saturday 21 May 2016
JEDDAH: The Kingdom’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has lambasted Iran for what he described as attempts to seek political gain from the Haj over the past 30 years.
In a phone interview with a local daily published on Friday, Al-Asheikh described the Iranian government as the “enemy of the House of God and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.”
Tehran created “a lie” that the Kingdom had prevented Iranian pilgrims from performing Haj. The agreement that the Iranian government’s Haj delegation had to sign last week was mandatory for all nations, he was quoted as saying.
He said Iran has been responsible for several attempts over the years to cause trouble at the Grand Mosque. “How many errors and abuses have been committed?” He said that the demonstrations sponsored by Iran in Makkah in 1987 had threatened the lives of innocent people, resulting in a ban on the country.
Al-Asheikh said Tehran was trying to “defame” the Kingdom in an attempt to hide the harm it had inflicted on its own people, who were now unable to perform Haj. Saudi Arabia was known for carrying out its duties toward pilgrims at the Two Holy Mosques, he said.
Meanwhile, a member of the Iranian opposition, Aref Bawa Jani, head of the Sirbitz Kurdistan Party, condemned the Tehran government for what he described as attempts to use religious occasions to incite tension.
He said it had used this method in 1987 when it sent a special group to Makkah to create problems during the Haj. It was part of the country’s attempts to cause divisions among countries to further its expansionist goals, he was quoted as saying.
He said the Iranian government’s domestic and foreign policies are aimed at creating problems between Shiites and Sunnis. It was also trying to make Iranians believe that visits to religious places in Iraq, particularly Najaf and Karbala, can replace the Haj in Saudi Arabia.
Iran came under further attack by Sheikh Saleh bin Abdullah bin Hameed at the Grand Mosque in Makkah during his Friday sermon, who said that Muslims must be wary of those trying to “wreak havoc” under the guise of the pilgrimage.
“When Muslims travel to this country as pilgrims they represent their unity and forget their differences. They recognize that the holy lands are not fields to address their differences and settle scores,” he said.
In comments carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, he accused “aggressors” of trying to exploit the pilgrimage to divert attention “from the suffering” in their own country.
“They want to take advantage of the worship season and the gathering of Muslims and the holy sites for political gain, to wreak havoc and cause chaos, and that leads to divisions and sowing of discord,” said the imam, who is also an adviser to the Saudi Royal Court.
On May 12, Iran said its nationals would miss the annual Haj in September this year and accused Saudi Arabia of “sabotage.” Riyadh cut ties with Tehran after demonstrators burned its embassy and a consulate following the Saudi execution of a Shiite terrorist.
In the first dialogue since ties were severed, a delegation from Tehran held four days of talks in Saudi Arabia last month aimed at reaching a deal for Iranians to join the pilgrimage. But talks became deadlocked.
Among the points of contention, the Iranians demanded to be able to hold their own rituals, including protests chanting “Death to America, death to Israel,” according to a statement from the Saudi Haj and Umrah Ministry carried by a local newspaper.
“Chanting slogans and gathering and rallying are not religious and not what God or the Prophet ordered,” Hameed said. “And so it is the Kingdom’s policy not to allow anyone or any entity to tamper with the security of the holy sites or the security of the pilgrims,” he said.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/927571/saudi-arabia