Kuwaiti Alsiaseh Newspaper—May 20th, 2007
Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudi is a member of the Quds force in Iraq and responsible for sectarian violence.
He is sought after in Europe for assassination of opposition leaders.
Sahraroudi mysteriously escaped detention when Americans attacked the Iranian Consulate in Arbil.
By: Dr. Sanabargh Zahedi
All news reports published by international media about Sharm-el-Sheikh conference focused on the encounter between Rice and Mottaki and whether the ice was breaking in the relationship between the mullahs and United States.
More than 50 countries, including the 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and 8 biggest industrial nations, attended the conference. The goal was to discuss suffering of the Iraqi people. It did not happen as planned. If we look closely at the disastrous situation in Iraq we would see the fingerprints of the mullahs, their Revolutionary Guards Corp commanders and the Quds force.
The purpose of this article though is something that no-one paid any attention to, the identity of the members of the Iranian delegation. Nobody, even the Iranian regime mentioned anything about it. I researched the issue and looked at the Iranian news media.
The news reports said: “Mottaki has attended the conference as the head of a diplomatic and expert delegation.” The members of the delegation included: Spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Countries Mohammad-Reza Baqeri, Head of Special Iraq Commission Hossein Amir Abdollahian. The Iranian regime also dispatched someone named “Mohammad Jafari” as the delegation’s number two to Egypt.
Mohammad Jafari is currently the Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran and his full name is Mohammad Jafari Sahraroudi.
Sahraroudi is a well known terrorist holding an international arrest warrant to his name. He is the former Commander of Ramazan Brigade in Kermanshah in charge of missions inside Iraq. He is one of the Commanders of the Quds force and responsible for terrorism and assassinations in Iraq.
Jafari joined the Revolutionary Guards Corp at its inception, right after the revolution. In 1985 he established the Ramazan Brigade as well as a special unit for missions inside Iraq.
Current Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, was at the time one of the commanders of this unit. Jafari’s next position was the Deputy Commander of the Quds Force. He then became Head of the Security and Tasks of the Revolutionary Guards Corp. He eventually took charge as the Commander of Revolutionary Guards Armed Forces.
After Ahmadinejad became President, Sahraroudi was selected as the Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.
Jafari Sahraroudi was the commander of the team that on July 13, 1989 assassinated the Executive Director of Kurdish Democratic Party Dr. Abdolrahman Ghasemloo and two of his friends Abdollah Ghaderi-Azar and Fazel Rasul in Vienna.
Sahraroudi was injured and arrested during this operation by the Austrian Police. He was eventually freed and sent back to Iran as a result of pressure the Iranian regime applied to the Austrian government. The Austrian Ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry numerous times and handed in protest letters. He was told if Sahraroudi does not return home the employees of the Austrian Embassy will face some risks.
It is worth mentioning that the official who summoned the Austrian Ambassador at that time was Manouchehr Mottaki who headed the Western European Affairs within the Foreign Ministry.
After Sahraroudi returned to Iran, the investigation into the assassination revealed that he was the commander of the terror team. As a result an Austrian Judge issued an International warrant for his arrest.
Another mission that Sahraroudi was put in charge of by Khamenei was the assassination attempt of the leader of Iranian Resistance, Mr. Massoud Rajavi (details of this plan is identified in People’s Mojahedin’s statement of April 20th, 2003).
On January 11th the American forces attacked an Iranian regime center in Arbil, Iraq. They arrested 5 people but they were in fact after Mohammad Jafari Sahraroudi and another commander of Quds force. The two had already left Iraq.
Washington Post in an article on April 14th, 2007 explained this matter quoting American officials, “In January two high level Iranians were the target, one was General Manouchehr Forousandeh, Head of Revolutionary Guards Corps Information and Security and the other, Mohammad Jafari, Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council but both of them escaped.”
Mohammad Jafari Sahraroudi’s attendance in Sharm El-Sheikh conference as part of the Iranian delegation is basically to challenge the international community especially when he was the target of the American forces in Arbil. Someone who is sought after by American forces as well as Austrian Judicial system now comes and sits across from Condoleeza Rice and foreign ministers of 50 other western and non-western countries.
In fact the appeasement of the mullah’s regime by the international community and not confronting the Iranian regime’s terrorism in Iraq has emboldened and encouraged them to send a wanted professional terrorist who is sought after in Austria, to Sharm El-Sheikh Conference.
This should serve as a warning to the Arab and Islamic countries. When the regime perceives that the Arab countries and specifically Egypt do not care about the identity of the members of their official delegation, this will encourage them to send their terrorist commanders to those Arab countries on assassination missions.
Dr. Sanabargh Zahedi is head of Judicial Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran