Iran security chief ousted over MI6 operation that led to hanging of ‘spy’

IRAN has replaced a leading security chief after he was implicated in an alleged MI6 operation that passed secret data about the regime’s nuclear programme to Israel.

On Monday, Iran’s president said he was replacing Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the supreme national security council, with a top member of the Revolutionary Guard. Mr Shamkhani had earlier resigned from the role, according to state media reports.

According to US and Iranian media reports, Mr Shamkhani was an ally of Alireza Akbari, the British-iranian politician who was executed by the regime in January on charges of spying for MI6 on its nuclear programme.

In an audio recording obtained by BBC Persian, Mr Akbari can be heard saying that he gained high-level intelligence from Mr Shamkhani by offering him perfume and a shirt.

A recent New York Times report also stated that Mr Akbari had been passing on such information to Britain, which then allegedly handed it to Israel, including sensitive data on Iranian nuclear sites.

Mr Akbari is said to have also revealed the identity and activities of more than 100 Iranian officials, including Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s chief nuclear scientist, who was later assassinated by Israel, which regards Iran’s nuclear programme as an existential threat.

In recent years, Israel has ramped up attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists and infrastructure as part of an escalating “shadow war” with the regime.

While Britain has not acknowledged claims that Mr Akbari was an MI6 spy, the replacement of Mr Shamkhani suggests that a major breach of Iranian national security occurred, in a significant blow to the regime.

It also suggests that MI6 managed to obtain secret data on Iran’s nuclear activities that had until then eluded other Western spy networks. Mr Akbari’s relatives have previously dismissed suggestions he was a spy and said he was the victim of a “political game” in Iran. It was reported before his execution that he was extensively tortured before confessing to being a spy.

Mr Shamkhani’s replacement was named as Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s strategic centre.

On Monday, Israel accused Iran of converting ships into armed “floating terror bases” that could be used to attack trade routes.

Speaking at a security conference in Israel, Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, said the regime was fitting drones, missile systems and intelligence equipment to commercial ships in the Gulf.