Iran says it has found a CIA informant who helped the US assassinate Qassem Soleimani, and has sentenced him to death

On Tuesday, Iran announced that it has convicted and plans to execute an Iranian citizen it says helped the US assassinate Soleimani.
The citizen was identified as Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, and Iran said he was a spy for the CIA and Israel's Mossad security agency.
One security official told Insider that information about the strike that was published in US media reports may have made it easy for Iran to identify any informants involved.
"If this is the Americans' guy they really f---ed him with releasing all the details on how they tracked Soleimani," one security official told Insider.
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Iran announced Tuesday that it has convicted and plans to execute an Iranian citizen it accuses of helping the US to assassinate its revered general, Qassem Soleimani.

The news was reported by the Reuters news agency , which cited a press conference aired on Iranian TV.

Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq, in January.

Soleimani was famed in Iran for his role leading foreign military operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guard. His killing pushed the US and Iran to the brink of war.

Gholamhossein Esmaili, a spokesman for Iran's judicial service, said at the conference that officials had identified Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, and Iranian, as a culprit in Soleimani's death.

Esmaili described him as a spy for the CIA and Israel's Mossad security agency, and said he had already been sentenced to death.

trump soleimani Leah Millis/Reuters; Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP

"Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, one of the spies for the CIA and the Mossad, has been sentenced to death ... He gave information about the whereabouts of martyr Soleimani to our enemies," Esmaili said.

"He passed on security information to the Israeli and American intelligence agencies about Iran's armed forces, particularly the [Revolutionary] Guards," Esmaili said in a translation provided by Reuters.

The announcement took many by surprise given its speed, almost exactly six months after Soleimani died.

One security official told Insider that information put into the public domain by the US may have made it easy for Iran to identify any informants involved.

The official, who works in in the Persian Gulf, requested anonymity because he lacks permission to discuss Iran with the media.

He said: "We knew the Pasdaran was looking at logistics and security offices for the leak, people who would have to know [Soleimani's] movements as part of their work." Pasdaran is Persian slang for the Revolutionary Guard.

The source continued: "If this is the Americans' guy they really f---ed him with releasing all the details on how they tracked Soleimani how they always knew when he was on a plane, that a source had confirmed he was definitely on the flight and had disembarked..."

The source is referring to reports in the US media at the time of the assassination, drawing on inside information of how the strike was carried out.

Bloomberg News published a story three days after the strike citing two unnamed US officials. NBC News published a detailed account one week after the strike citing multiple US officials with knowledge of the operation.

Qassem Soleimani ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

According to the Washington Post , President Donald Trump gave his own detailed account of the strike to a meeting of donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida not long after the strike.

The Gulf-based source continued: "How hard is it to figure out everyone who knew exactly when Soleimani was there? Arrest everyone who knew and interrogate them until someone confesses."

A NATO official who closely monitors Iran, also speaking anonymously, said that Iran's behavior suggests Mousavi-Majd could have been one of its own intelligence officials.

"This is how most countries would prefer to deal with catching a traitor in the security services," he said.

"You need to know what they gave up and when and how they were recruited as quickly as possible, then a fast, final, trial to not embarrass the service."

Mousavi-Majd has not been identified as a member of the Iranian intelligence services or IRGC but the Persian Gulf source agreed that from Iran's official behavior, that appeared most likely.

"Who else would know where Soleimani was going to be, the guy didn't use a travel agent," said the source. "And a fast quiet trial because it was one of your own guys."

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Iran says it has found a CIA informant who helped the US assassinate Qassem Soleimani, and has sentenced him to death

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