Iranian hit squads targeting opponents in Iraq – UK spies

Iran is using teams of hit squads in Iraq to silence its critics as it attempts to meddle in Baghdad’s new government, British security officials say.

The squads are said to have been deployed on the orders of Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force, with the aim of intimidating Iraqi opponents.

They were deployed after the Iraqi general election in May, when Iranian attempts to establish a controlling influence over the new Iraqi government were stymied by Tehran-backed candidates failing to win sufficient votes.

During the election campaign, Iran backed Nuri al-Maliki, the former Iraqi prime minister, whose close association with Tehran was a major factor in his removal from office.

The Iranians also hedged their bets by supporting Hadi al-Amiri, another pro-Iran candidate, although neither candidate mustered enough votes to form a government.

British security officials, providing military support and training for the Iraqi armed forces, say that Iran responded by sending a number of Quds Force hit squads to silence Iraqi critics of Iran.

The most high-profile victim to date of the Iranian hit squads was Adel Shaker El-Tamimi – a close ally of Haider al-Abadi, a former Iraqi prime minister, who was assassinated by the Quds force in September. Tamimi, 46, a Shia Muslim and joint Canadian-Iraqi national, was involved in attempts in Baghdad to heal the schism between the country’s Shia and Sunni communities, and also worked as a low-key envoy to restore Iraq’s relations with neighbouring Arab states such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Security sources say the Iranian assassins have also targeted opponents across Iraq’s political spectrum.

Other victims of Iran’s hit squads include Shawki al-Haddad, a close ally of Muqtada Al-Sadr, the Shia firebrand and a former protege of Tehran who recently has adopted a more nationalist agenda.

Haddad was murdered in July after accusing Iran of election fraud.

Meanwhile, Rady al-Tai, an adviser to Grand Ayatollah Ali AlSistani, Iraq’s leading Shia cleric, was the subject of a failed assassination attempt in August after he called for the reduction of Iranian influence in the new government. ‘‘Iran in intensifying its campaign of intimidation against the Iraqi government by using assassination squads to silence critics of Tehran,’’ a senior British security official told the Daily Telegraph.

‘‘This is a blatant attempt to thwart efforts by the new Iraqi government to end Iran’s meddling in Iraq.’’

General Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the Army, told the Telegraph recently that he regarded Iran’s ‘‘malign influence’’ as one of the major threats facing the world today. – Telegraph Group