Saeed Ghassemi, one of the most senior IRGC commanders revealed that the Iranian regime had been present in Bosnia under the guise of the Red Crescent and had been in communication with Al-Qaeda

On Monday, April 15, Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Brigadier General Saeed Ghassemi revealed that the Iranian regime had been present in Bosnia under the guise of the Red Crescent and had been in communication with al-Qaeda.

The regime and the IRGC immediately attempted to distance themselves from Ghassemi’s comments. However, Ghassemi’s assertions were echoed on April 17 by Hossein Allah Karam, a leader of Ansar Hezbollah.

Covert Operation Under the Red Crescent Banner

IRGC is the main force behind the Iranian regime’s terror and executions both at home and abroad.

The regime is no stranger to mounting covert operations through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civilian organizations. It has even used the Red Crescent to further its political objectives before.

The People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), the largest Iranian opposition group, has often criticized the regime’s use of the organization to export state-sponsored terrorism. In a statement following recent flooding in Iran, the Iranian opposition’s President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, said: “The Red Crescent is for the export of fundamentalism and terrorism.” She went on to say that “none of the institutions and facilities of the country is to protect the people, but to preserve the regime.”

The MEK has been revealing the regime’s illicit operations under the guise of the Red Crescent as far back as 1987. In a report entitled ‘Exposing Details and Agents of Khomeini’s Terrorist and Subversive Plan in Mecca’, the pro-democracy group revealed that the head of the Red Crescent, Yusef Vahidi, had been involved in regime terror plots.

A letter sent in 2003, later made public by the MEK, provided more evidence of the regime using the Red Crescent to carry out terror operations. The letter was written by the head of the regime’s Supreme Security Council and addressed to the head of the Red Crescent at the time, Noor Bala.

The letter explicitly stated that the IRGC’s Quds Forces would determine the needs of the Iraqi population. It instructed Bala that the Red Crescent would collect the aid and then transfer it “to Iraq with the coordination of the Quds Force.”

Most recently, in 2015, the MEK announced that the IRGC was making inroad in Yemen under the guise of providing humanitarian assistance through the Red Crescent. Under the guise of “building hospitals and delivering medicine,” the regime was able to “recruit elements for its terrorist networks”, the MEK statement read.

The regime also orchestrated the transfer of Houthi rebels between Iran and Yemen in Red Crescent airplanes.

Ghassemi’s comments confirm what the MEK has known for a long time. However, confession is significant. It has pulled the mask off of the Red Crescent for the international community and shown them what lies beneath an elaborate network of terrorist recruits hell-bent on advancing the interests of Iran’s violent regime.

Staff writer