TEHRAN – Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei saidofficials from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played a role inrecent riots in Iran, Tasnim has reported.link>link>link>link>Afew months ago, a secret meeting was held in the capital of Iraq’sKurdistan region, Erbil, where the recent violent protests and unrest inIran were planned, Rezaei told reporters in a press conference in Tehran onSaturday.
The meeting was attended by the CIA’s Iran operations chief (MichaelD’Andrea), the chief of staff of former Iraqi dictator Saddam’s son andSaddam’s brother-in-law.
The official went on to say that their operation, code-named “FruitfulConvergence”, began in Iran in mid-December through using the cyberspaceand social networks and were planned to continue in January and February.
Rezaei further said that in the first phase of the operation, they hadplanned to take control of most of Iranian cities from the government sothey could smuggle weapons into the country to kill a number of people andthen pressure the UN Security Council to impose new sanctions against Iranunder the pretext of human rights.
He added that in the second phase, they were going to pave the ground forthe MKO members to enter the country and cause the situation to deteriorate.
The remarks came after the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting onFriday at the request of the United States to discuss the recent protestsin Iran.
Washington, however, found itself at odds with its European partners, whoused the hard-won debate to reject American efforts to make the protests anexcuse for ditching the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers,also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Last week, peaceful protests over rising prices and economic problems brokeout in some Iranian cities, but the unauthorized gatherings turned violentafter a number of opportunists, some of them armed, vandalized publicproperty and launched attacks on police stations and government buildings.
Iranian security officials say they have hard evidence that the protestswere directed from abroad.
Officials say many rioters arrested in the unrest have been trained by theMKO or had links with Takfiri terrorist groups.
Following the unrest, people of Iran held several demonstrations across thecountry to condemn the violent riots and acts of vandalism, and voicesupport for the Islamic Republic’s Establishment.
Iranian officials maintain that people have the right to stage protests toexpress their opinions, as long as rallies comply with the legal conditions.