Iran arrests opposition figure ‘directed by French intel’

TEHRAN — Iran has arrested an opposition figure who had been “directed by France’s intelligence service” and he is now being held in the Islamic republic, the Revolutionary Guard said on Monday.

Ruhollah Zam, who ran a “counterrevolutionary” Telegram channel, was detained in a “sophisticated and professional operation” by the Guards’ intelligence organisation, Iran’s ideological army said in a statement.

Zam reportedly lived in exile in Paris, but the Guards’ statement did not specify when or where he was arrested.

The guard accused him of running an operation to sow discord in the Islamic republic, spreading falsehood and “creating riots and unrest in the country”.

It said he was “trapped”, despite having been “directed by France’s intelligence service and supported by intelligence services of America and the Zionist regime [Israel]”.

The guards said they managed to “deceive” foreign services and arrest him by “using modern intelligence methods and innovative tactics”.

It said the operation showed Iran’s enemies were “lagging behind” its own intelligence services.

Last year, Iran’s telecoms minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi demanded Telegram shut Zam’s Amadnews channel, saying it was inciting an “armed uprising”.

The channel, which had around 1.4 million followers, was later removed.

Telegram was the Islamic republic’s most popular social network with some 40 million users before it was blocked by the judiciary last year.

Authorities had temporarily banned the encrypted messaging app during a wave of protests in early 2018, saying it enabled foreign-based “counterrevolutionary” groups to stir tensions.