Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili, during a televised news conference Tuesday, announced that an Iranian man who supposedly helped the United States kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani earlier this year will be executed.
Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, the Iranian citizen who allegedly provided key details prior to the drone strike that killed Soleimani earlier, was also an informant for the CIA and Mossad, according to Reuters. “He passed on security information to the Israeli and American intelligence agencies about Iran’s armed forces, particularly the Guards,” Esmaili said, without providing evidence.
???? حکم اعدام برای افشاکننده مسیر تردد #سردار_سلیمانی
سخنگوی قوه قضاییه: اخیرا سیدمحمود موسوی مجد که هم به سرویس موساد و هم سرویس سیا وصل شده بود و در قبال دلار در حوزههای امنیتی و نیروهای مسلح جاسوسی میکرد دستگیر شد pic.twitter.com/jIiYCWlGmb
— خبرگزاری تسنیم ???????? (@Tasnimnews_Fa) June 9, 2020
Earlier this year, Soleimani was killed in Iraq by a drone strike authorized by President Donald Trump. He was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and the Pentagon said he was making plans to attack American diplomats and soldiers in Iraq.
In retaliation, Iran launched ballistic missiles at air bases in Iraq housing American soldiers. Later on, Iranian forces mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner leaving Tehran, although Iran blamed the incident on “human error.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted a video on Twitter Sunday that referred to the slain general as a “martyr.” (RELATED: Ted Cruz Says Twitter Violated Iran Sanctions, Calls For Criminal Investigation)
I remember Martyr Soleimani day and night pic.twitter.com/WVwHppeZZ0
— Khamenei TV (@Khamenei_tv) June 7, 2020
Despite Mousavi-Majd’s alleged role in Soleimani’s death, Iran said that the legal proceedings of the case had taken place prior to the attack. Esmaili added that Mousavi-Majd had even been arrested in October 2018, Reuters reported.
Esmaili did not say when the execution would take place, nor did he identify Soleimani’s death as the justification for Mousavi-Majd’s execution, according to Fox News. Iran’s judiciary confirmed later Tuesday that the execution was not linked to Soleimani’s killing, which was referred to as a “terrorist act of the U.S. government.”
Iranian officials also did not link the case to other instances where CIA spies were captured and executed, and no statement has been released to confirm the purpose of Mousavi-Majd’s execution.