Iran Charges Seven With Overthrow Plot Ahead of Anniversary
February 07, 2010, 7:07 PM ESTBy Ladane Nasseri
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Iran’s intelligence agency said security forces arrested seven people linked to a U.S.-funded Farsi-language radio station, including several CIA agents, who were plotting to overthrow the Islamic government.
“Seven people tied with counter-revolutionary satellite networks and Zionist media and agents of sedition have been identified and arrested,” the Intelligence Ministry said in a statement according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
The Islamic Republic faced the largest anti-government protests in its 30-year history in June following the re- election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which opposition leaders said was rigged. At least 44 people have been killed since the balloting, according to official figures.
Iranian authorities have rejected allegations of fraud and have accused western powers and their related media of fuelling the protests as part of a “plot” to undermine the regime. Opposition groups are planning further protests on Feb. 11, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic.
The people who were arrested “had a major role in collecting information, transferring it abroad and provoking protesters,” according to the statement. “They aimed to fuel more protests on Feb. 11 before leaving the country for the U.S.” The protesters were not identified.
The government statement said they had “ties with Radio Farda and had been trained in Dubai and Istanbul and some were employed by the CIA.” State-run Press TV said two of the people arrested were CIA agents.
“They were taught various techniques for a soft overthrow, which include disturbing the public order and creating propaganda,” it said.
Radio Farda, which means ‘tomorrow’ in Farsi, is a U.S. government-funded Farsi-language service run jointly by RFE/RL and the Voice of America.
--Editors: Louis Meixler, Jones Hayden.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Beirut at lnasseri@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net.
