VAJA: Islamic Republic of Iran
The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran (VAJA) (Persian: وزارت اطّلاعات جمهوری اسلامی ایران) are known to operate in neighbouring countries. Most of these countries are politically unstable and have seen conflict in the recent past. Due to decades of unrest in the middle-east, the population in each country are war hardened, albeit each military is equipped with varying strengths and sophistication.
Regardless of what at first sight may seem an unsophisticated operation, agents should take special care not to become complacent.
The on-line opposition activist Massoud Molavi Verdanjani targeted and shot in Instanbul’s Shishli neighbourhood on the14th of Nov 2019. A Turkish security official later claimed Verdanjani’s suspected killer had confessed to acting under the orders of two Iranian intelligence officers at the Iranian consulate in Turkey.
It is not uncommon for VAJA agents to recruit local operatives to carry out tasks that may not be fully aware of the underlying reason why. VAJA was detected by MOSSAD and exposed for recruiting Israeli nationals. In this case the agents were Jewish immigrants from Iran, which made easy identification their motives and allegiance. The method of recruitment was social media. This highlights that the fact that although social media platforms advertise end-to-end encryption, there are actors at play that decipher or gain access through back door weaknesses.
Social media snooping was exposed by the ex-NSA operative Edward Snowden.
