According to the estimates by security experts in Austria, more than 100 people work for Iranian intelligence service.
Source: Die Presse, January 8, 2013*
Vienna – It is only a short paragraph in a 64-page report on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) published by the research division of the U.S. Library of Congress in December in Washington. But it sheds a particular light on Austria. “Vienna,.. is allegedly full of MOIS agents. It is because of the continuous good relationship between Iran and Austria since the Revolution, “says the document published by “Library of Congress. “
The Austrian Ministry of the Interior will not officially take a position and merely refers to the Verfassungsschutzbericht 2012 (Constitutional Protection Repot 2012), however, without mentioning the name of concerned states. The report states that Austria due to its history, its location, its neutral status and the international organizations has become “an important trading center in the world of intelligence services”.
Network is built
Security experts estimate that in Austria, more than 100 people are working for the Iranian intelligence, or at least provide some legwork. Their job is not only to monitor Iranian opposition in exile or to put them under pressure, as the U.S. report states. Recently also evidences surfaced that the Iranians in Vienna possibly have built a network in order to circumvent sanctions and money laundering. To this end, Hamid Reza Amirinia, the director of Iranian regime’s “Technology Center” in June resided in Vienna, according to a detailed report by the Iranian opposition the People’s Mojahedin Oraganization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), which for the first time they provided in the fall, to “Profile.”
According to the information that Die Presse has obtained also meanwhile the West is monitoring the Iraqis who assist the regime in Tehran in various operations. The Iranian regime has gained considerable influence in neighboring Iraq which in last ten the years since the U.S. invasion is dominated by the Shiite majority.
*This is English Translation of the report in Dutch
