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Ardavan Khoshnood

A radical Islamist with close ties to both Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC, Iran’s new intelligence minister is likely to take a more aggressive approach than his predecessor.
The West assumes that if the Islamist regime of Iran is granted some leeway, it will stop its aggression. The IRGC’s push for absolute power in Iran and belligerent empire-building across the Middle East suggest otherwise.
In the recently published Swedish Security Service Yearbook 2020, which discusses the main security and intelligence challenges faced by Sweden over the past year, Iran is mentioned 14 times.
Tehran’s devastating counterintelligence failures prove the regime needs help in this area, and Russia may be its best option.
Dehghan was responsible for the vicious crackdown on opponents of the Islamic regime in the 1980s and played a central role in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.
Tehran will have to respond to the killing of the architect of its nuclear program, but will likely look to save face rather than risk open war.
Tehran will probably look to reform its counterintelligence community and may ask for assistance in this endeavor from both Russia and China.