Hossein Taeb

Biography

According to a biography from the "pro-government" Iran Student Correspondents Association summarized in the website Iran Rises, Taeb was born in 1342 (1963/4). After his middle education, he went to seminary school and reached an advanced degree (kharej) in Islamic jurisprudence after studying in Tehran, Mashhad, and Qom. He had studied with, among others, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Taeb joined the Revolutionary Guards (which supervises the Basij) in 1361 (1982/3), beginning his work in Region 10 of Tehran and continued on to Qom and Mashhad. He was "for some time the Revolutionary Guards' coordinator with the Leader as well as the cultural commander of Imam Hossein College."

Under Taeb's command, the Basij played a key role in suppressing protest over the controversial 2009 Iranian presidential elections. The suppression saw the death of at least dozens of protesters on the streets or in prison. He was involved in other controversial activities such as: involvement in the "chain murders" of Iranian intellectuals in the 1990s and targeting of Iranian dissidents abroad, including assassinations.

In public statements Taeb has cautioned Iranians that the United States was "hiring agents and mercenaries in an effort to continue its plots for a soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic," according to the Iranian Fars news agency. Taeb has also stated that the post-election "anti-government riots" "killed eight members of the Basij and wounded 300 others."

In 2022, he and his family members were sanctioned by the US Department of States for his involvement in human rights violations in Iran.

Taeb was dismissed from his position as head of Intelligence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in June 2022. This is speculated to be due to an incident where an alleged Iranian operation to attack Israeli tourists in Turkey was outed, resulting in the arrest of the agents and a diplomatic spat with Turkey, as well as other incidents that suggested successful Israeli spy operations that Taeb failed to prevent. The dismissal also coincided with the arrest of Brig. General Ali Nasiri on suspicion of spying for Israel.

Offices

The list of his responsibilities includes:

• Deputy Culture of Joint Staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
• Commander department of Culture of Imam Hossein University
• Commander of the Basij from 29 October 2007 to 2009
• Head of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from October 2009 to June 2022

Personal life

He lost a brother in the Operation Karbala-5 during the Iran–Iraq War and is married with three children.

International sanctions

Private property of Hossein Taeb is frozen by the European Union and he is not allowed to enter Europe because "forces under his command participated in mass beatings, murders, detentions and tortures of peaceful protestors." He has also been blacklisted by the U.S government.

References

References

1. [https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/07/the_rise_of_the_Iranian_dictatorship The Rise of the Iranian Dictatorship], GENEIVE ABDO. 7 October 2009 accessed 13-October-2009
2. Kia, Shahriar. (29 June 2022). "Who Is Hossein Taeb, Recently Booted From Iran’s IRGC Intelligence Organization?".
3. link. (29 September 2011 23 September 2009. accessed 23-September-2009)
4. [https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSDAH316769 Iran opposition says 72 died in post-poll unrest] Reuters. 3 September 2009. accessed 23-September-2009
5. "Report to Congress on Identification of, and Immigration Restrictions on, Senior Officials of the Government of Iran and Their Family Members, 22 USC 8727". United States Department of State.
6. [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/world/middleeast/israel-iran-spy-chief.html Israel's Spies Have Hit Iran Hard. In Tehran, Some Big Names Paid the Price.]
7. [http://www.hra-news.org/news/2581.aspx اطلاعات موازی رسماً جایگزین وزارت اطلاعات می‌شود] {{Webarchive. link. (30 July 2009 هرانا
   [http://www.rfi.fr/actufa/articles/115/article_7609.asp هشدار کروبی به وزارت اطلاعات] رادیو فرانسه)
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10. [https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091004/wl_mideast_afp/iranmilitary_20091004193552 Iran's Khamenei reshuffles Revolutionary Guards top brass, AFP, Oct 4, 2009]
11. [[Official Journal of the European Union]], 14 April 2001: [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:100:0001:0011:EN:PDF COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No 359/2011 of 12 April 2011 concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons, entities and bodies in view of the situation in Iran]
12. "IRAN". U.S. Treasury Department.