Iran exile group: Khamenei tightens intelligence grip

By Luke Baker

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has created a powerful new intelligence organisation to try to quell any further public unrest following June's disputed election, an exiled Iranian opposition group said on Thursday.

The new organisation, responsible for intelligence and security, is an off-shoot of the Revolutionary Guards and will report directly to the supreme leader's office, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a Paris-based group that has followers in Europe and claims many in Iran.

The shift is the largest overhaul of the intelligence structure since 1989, when Iran's first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died, the NCRI believes, and reflects the depth of the leadership's concern about post-election protests.

"Although the mullahs have made public declarations about the new organisation, they have nonetheless concealed its real dimension and true nature," Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the NCRI, told a news conference in Brussels.

"Its command structure is linked directly to Khamenei. Its formation marks an unprecedented transformation for the regime's intelligence and suppressive apparatus," she said, saying the information had come from sources in Iran.

Iranian officials have yet to comment on reports of a revamped intelligence organisation.

Iranian media reported last month that the former head of the Basij militia, Hossein Taeb, had been transferred to the Guards. Ebtekar newspaper said Taeb had had previous experience in intelligence but did not disclose his new position.