A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blessed an elaborate plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic during a June war.
"On June 14, a meeting was held in one of the European countries—I won’t name it. The meeting lasted 12 hours. All anti-revolutionary elements, agents of American and Israeli services and leaders of the opposition—including separatists, monarchists, and even Islamic State leaders—were present," Major General Ebrahim Jabari, an adviser to the IRGC Commander-in-Chief, told a Tehran conference on Tuesday.
"Under the guidance of Trump and Netanyahu, they planned that if an attack began, these elements would enter our country from various points along the borders," he added, saying the gathering aimed to form "a government-in-exile."
The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program earlier this year, for which President Donald Trump set a 60-day ultimatum.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day, Israel launched a surprise military offensive on June 13, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
'Monarchists arrested'
Jabari referred to cases of military defections and said those involved in “running and operating” the plot had been detained.
“Iranian intelligence arrested around 123 ringleaders of a monarchist group called the ‘Javidan Guard' (Immortal Guard). Authorities also detained Christian convert leaders previously recruited by foreign services,” Jabari said.
The Javidan Guard was one of the most elite military units of the ousted Pahlavi dynasty responsible for protecting the Shah, the royal family and major palaces, particularly the Niavaran Palace complex.
Its name was inspired by the Achaemenid-era Immortals, a military grouping which ancient chronicles credit with strength and courage on the battlefield.
In the final months of the monarchy, the Javidan Guard was deployed against protesters amid escalating revolutionary unrest but ultimately was unable to prevent the collapse in 1979 and the victory of the Islamic Revolution.
“The plot is part of a long-term plan by the US and Israel. Preparations began 22 years ago and intensified eight years ago through recruitment of domestic rabble,” Jabari said.
Videos circulating last month on social media showed a man introducing himself as Colonel Ebrahim Aghaei Kamazani, delivering a speech to the people of Iran and calling on them to overthrow their leaders.
“We too are playing a role in the country's destruction through our indifference. Rise up on November 25. People, hear your son's voice. Long live the Shah; long live Iran,” he said. It was not clear if the appeal was new or he was a genuine military officer.
‘Recruiting thugs’
Jabari said agents were recruited inside Iran after training abroad before returning as operational agents.
“These individuals were taken to Turkey, Dubai, Qatar and other countries for political courses and training costing up to $25,000 per person, with corruption and immorality used as bait,” he asserted.
“Israel previously assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists directly but now uses Iranian ‘thugs’ trained abroad.”
Since at least 2010, Israel has allegedly conducted dozens of attacks inside Iran, targeting sensitive nuclear and military installations and carrying out assassinations of individuals deemed a threat.
These attacks intensified after July 2020, when an explosion at the Natanz uranium enrichment site destroyed a building.
In November that year, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a key figure in Iran’s nuclear program, was assassinated in a roadside attack near Tehran.
Western and Israeli intelligence had long suspected Fakhrizadeh of being the architect of Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program.
Israeli attacks in June killed over 20 senior commanders, including Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces; Hossein Salami, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-chief; and Gholamali Rashid, Head of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
Along with hundreds of military personnel killed, the Israeli strikes killed hundreds of civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
The over 3,000-page $900 billion plus National Defense Authorization Act outlines US military priorities around the globe. A compromise version of the proposed legislation emerged on Sunday.
It contains provisions to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) against Iraq passed by Congress to confront US foe Saddam Hussein, in a win for the legislative branch's powers to declare war which remain a flashpoint.
According to the text, no more than half of the funds allocated for Iraq's military can be delivered until the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress a verification that Baghdad has implemented "credible steps" to rein in Tehran-backed militias.
These include steps "to reduce the operational capacity of Iran-aligned militia groups not integrated into the Iraqi Security Forces," moves to strengthen the authority of the Iraqi Prime Minister as commander in chief of the security forces.
It further requires Iraq to "investigate and hold accountable members of militias or members of security forces operating outside the formal chain of command who engage in attacks on United States or Iraqi personnel or otherwise act in an illegal or destabilizing manner."
The NDAA allows for a waiver of 180 days if the Secretary of Defense invokes national security reasons.
Recent elections
Emerging from years of civil war which followed a US invasion in 2003, Baghdad is caught between the competing influence of Tehran and Washington.
Tehran-aligned groups such as the Popular Mobilization Forces and Kata’ib Hezbollah fielded candidates in parliamentary polls last month, rebranding themselves as civilian organizations even as their armed presence persists.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who has plied a middle course between the two foreign rivals vying over the future of the war-battered Arab nation, looks set to stay in office after months of bargaining wraps up.
He has taken few steps to defang the armed groups even as overall security nationwide has improved, earning criticism from hawks in Washington.
'Make Iraq Great Again'
"It does not matter who wins elections or forms a government, as the entire country is deeply infiltrated by Iran," Republican Congressman Joe Wilson said on Tuesday.
"Congress will not continue to issue blank checks forever," he added in the post on X. Baghdad, he said, "should take sovereign decisions on behalf of their own people rather than obeying the dictates of Iran and its puppet militias and kleptocrats."
The administration of US President Donald Trump has stepped up sanctions on Iraqi people and entities it accuses of helping enrich Tehran, and his special envoy to Baghdad Mark Savaya has vowed to "Make Iraq Great Again."
Hamstrung by US and international sanctions, Iran shares long historical and religious ties with parts of Iraq and views it as a valuable conduit for conducting international business.
Tehran armed and funded the militias which helped the country defeat Islamic State militants but which lingered after their defeat and continue to exert a strong influence over the security forces and government.
