“Erbil-Based Operation Room behind Recent Unrest in Iran”

Speaking in a ceremony on Saturday, Rezaei said the recent unrest in Iran was masterminded by an operation room established a few months ago in the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Erbil.

“The room worked under Michael D’Andrea, the head of the CIA’s Iran operations,” he added, according to a Farsi report by the Khabar Online news agency.

“The meetings of the operation room in Erbil were attended by Saddam Hussein’s brother-in-law, the chief of staff of Saddam’s son, and a number of representatives from Saudi Arabia and Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group,” he said.

Rezaei underlined that that the Expediency Council has also received and is investigating reports of the presence of a representative from the United Arab Emirates in the room.

Rezaei, who used to be the IRGC chief-commander in the 1980s, said the operation room drew on the social media to launch its project to create unrest in Iran in late December.

“Through the first phase of their project named Surefire Convergence Strategy, the operation room organizers thought they could take the control of Iranian cities. They planned to smuggle weapons into Iran in the next phase to prepare the grounds for further killings in Iran with the aim of convincing the international community to impose new sanctions on the country.”

“On the other side, the MKO terrorist group was expected to ask for the help of European countries to enter Iran to undermine the security of our country,” he noted.

Rezaei also said the political, defence and security commissions of the Expediency Council are expected to explore the recent unrest in Iran and the enemy plots to take advantage of it in separate reports to the council.

Last week, a number of peaceful protests over economic problems broke out in several Iranian cities, but the gatherings turned violent when groups of participants, some of them armed, vandalized public property and launched attacks on police stations and government buildings.