The Iranian regime is increasingly unstable and is turning against itself due to mounting economic pressure, an exclusive source in the nation's capital, Tehran, told i24NEWS.
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Most significantly the source – an opponent of the regime – suggested that a number of recent killings of officers from the Quds Force were the result of internal purges, rather than assassinations by external intelligence agencies.
Increasing economic woes caused by sanctions on Iran are becoming a threat to the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. As the Iranian public struggles to pay for basic essentials and even the government has difficulty paying salaries, discontent is growing, the source said.
"The companies controlled by the Revolutionary Guards have gone bankrupt; their corruption has increased and the thefts have worsened," the critic said.
As well as being the ideological vanguard of the Iranian regime, the IRGC is a huge economic player inside the country, owning a large portfolio of properties and business interests.
The Quds Force is the branch within the IRGC responsible for conducting operations outside of Iran and liaising with proxies. It too is feeling the pinch.
"These purges... started with the Quds Force. A number of [its officers] were killed by the regime itself," the source said, noting that the resulting fear is causing some commanders to mistrust their bodyguards and to avoid sleeping in their own homes at night.
Adding to the paranoia gripping the establishment is that some of the killings are likely conducted by foreign intelligence agencies - with Israel often labeled as the most likely culprit. This is creating an atmosphere of uncertainty in Iran with individuals dying in unexplained circumstances, with no clear answer as to whether the killing was ordered from abroad, or at home.
"This has caused an earthquake in the trunk of the system, and this is just the beginning of the assassinations," the opposition figure said.
An ongoing dispute between Major General Mohsen Rezaee – a twice presidential candidate and former head of the IRGC –and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is behind much of this infighting, the source said. Further killings are likely to occur as the division between the two conservative figures continues, the source predicted.
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In recent weeks a number of high-profile IRGC commanders have been moved into new roles, or fired from their positions. This is because senior figures "no longer even trust their own agents. The information holes have become so large that they are afraid of their own shadow," the regime critic said.
Experts suggest it is also likely linked to efforts to improve the counterintelligence structures of the regime.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
