CIA’s Betrayal of Colleagues
The betrayal of CIA towards its colleagues, an Iranian, one of our own, when his hands tremble from the burning of his face reddened by the slap of humiliation, and he loses his senses, and his thoughts drift towards seeking refuge with those sitting on the other side of the world, may create a story that ultimately ends bitterly like hemlock. Although listening to and reading it is fascinating, in the end, it leaves nothing but regret.
Gholamreza Hosseini, a young engineer who was arrested at Tehran International Airport on charges of spying for the United States, never believed that the Iranian security forces knew every detail and aspect of his work for the CIA and many points regarding his relationship with American intelligence agencies. He had destroyed the most important evidence he thought could be used against him at the airport, which was actually a memory card he had quickly put in his mouth and chewed.
Gholamreza Hosseini is one of several Iranians who have a history of collaboration with American security and intelligence agencies and were caught, and Reuters, in its special investigative program, has paid special attention to their stories and the process of their capture. The bitter fate of these Iranians and what ultimately happened to them can be important for American media activists. However, Reuters, in its narrative, has focused more than anything on the negligence and widespread weaknesses of the CIA and the excessive simplicity with which these Iranians were caught. We, as his compatriots, narrate the story of Gholamreza Hosseini and what happened to him for you.
A Bright Start and a Dark and Bitter Continuation
Gholamreza Hosseini was a young engineer educated at Amir Kabir University, who, with his intelligence and talent, managed to attract the attention of his professors and start good partnerships with young people like himself and establish a company. His technical and service company brought him substantial profits, and the high quality of his work boosted his life. The young engineer and his company succeeded in securing good contracts in various fields and from various sources, and step by step, more important contracts and collaborations with military and special institutions also came his way.
All these positive developments and advancements for Gholamreza are not achievements we haven’t seen around us. We all know young people who have progressed with high intelligence and built their lives, and perhaps you, the reader, are one of them. However, the difficulties of progress, survival, and enduring in Iran are not easily deniable. When the Ahmadinejad era began, Gholamreza’s life and business also changed. The Ahmadinejad era was a period of overturning administrative and economic structures and the dominance of specific forces and structures over Iran’s economy and trade.
Gradually, Gholamreza’s contracts and business were overshadowed by favoritism and the theft of contracts by those same forces, and loss after loss was imposed on his life. Special companies took control of the organization of institutions and companies in Iran and took over all contracts and plans, and Gholamreza, like many others in similar positions, was forced to operate in their shadow.
The happy days gradually turned into dark days for Gholamreza, and his disillusionment with Iranian politics and society during the Ahmadinejad era quickly turned into deep hatred. In Gholamreza’s account of those bitter days of his life, the complaint about the situation he found himself in is serious. He told Reuters investigative journalists about the ignorance and unawareness of those nouveau riche Ahmadinejad supporters and the military forces that dominated the economy, and that what happened to him felt like a violation.
This is how the slap of humiliation and the increasingly constrained living conditions turned Gholamreza’s gaze towards the other side of the waters. The depth of the resentment and hatred created from Iranian politics and society led him to one day open the CIA’s website and, with a simple click on the contact link, send a message: ‘I am an engineer working at the Natanz facility, and I have information.’
So far, the series of articles on CIA’s Betrayal of Colleagues has been published in four parts. You have read the first part. To read the other parts, click on the links below.
CIA’s Betrayal of Colleagues Part Two
CIA’s Betrayal of Colleagues Part Three
CIA’s Betrayal of Colleagues Part Four
