{"id":10779,"date":"2025-12-11T23:43:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/breaking-senior-iranian-officer-aids-cia-leadership-in-assassinating-hezbollah-commander-in-damascus\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T23:43:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:43:47","slug":"breaking-senior-iranian-officer-aids-cia-leadership-in-assassinating-hezbollah-commander-in-damascus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/breaking-senior-iranian-officer-aids-cia-leadership-in-assassinating-hezbollah-commander-in-damascus\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Senior Iranian officer aids CIA leadership in assassinating Hezbollah commander in Damascus."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Atlantic<\/em> magazine published an extensive investigation revealing the secrets of a senior officer in Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security named Mohammad Hossein Tajik, who led a double life as a CIA spy.<\/p>\n<p>Mohammad Hossein Tajik provided intelligence that led to the downfall of prominent global militant leaders before being killed by his father. He was the head of Iran\u2019s elite cyberwarfare unit and shared his story with journalist Shane Harris in 2016, detailing his deep involvement in some of Iran\u2019s most sensitive security operations.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2011, the CIA lost control of a stealth drone near Kashmar, Iran, 140 miles from the Afghan border, which ultimately fell into Iranian hands. Iranian state television displayed the boomerang-shaped drone as a war trophy, with banners under its 30-foot wings reading in Persian: \u201cThe United States cannot mess with us\u201d and \u201cWe will crush America under our feet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cause of the crash was initially mysterious\u2014did the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel drone deviate from its course, or did Iranian hackers capture it, demonstrating a growing cyber-military capability that concerned U.S. officials?<\/p>\n<p>In April 2016, an Iranian hacking group known as \u201cParastoo\u201d (\u201cSwallow\u201d in Persian) posted its email on a cybersecurity forum, inviting journalists to inquire about the drone\u2019s fate. Shane Harris contacted them, and a person identified as \u201cP\u201d responded, seeking to protect his identity and willing to reveal the story via interviews or encrypted messaging.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cP\u201d revealed that he was part of Parastoo, which had previously hacked the UN\u2019s International Atomic Energy Agency servers and the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, and had even claimed the ability to control U.S. military drones, once suggesting an attack on then-Vice President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<p>Through encrypted messaging, \u201cP\u201d coordinated a meeting in Tehran. During the interaction, \u201cP\u201d verified Harris\u2019s identity and then disclosed that he was an officer in Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, leading an elite cyberwarfare unit capable of downing U.S. drones.<\/p>\n<p>He described how his unit tracked the Sentinel drone via satellite and radio signals, studied its stealth capabilities, and prevented it from returning to Afghanistan, forcing it to make an emergency landing due to fuel depletion.<\/p>\n<p>By May 11, \u201cP\u201d revealed his identity as Mohammad Hossein Tajik, 35, and admitted that many Iranian cyber operations bore his signature or were fully designed by him.<\/p>\n<p>Tajik stated that his goal was not primarily to discuss the drone, which was merely a lure, but to leak intelligence on Iranian operations to harm and humiliate Iranian leaders who had angered him. He also revealed that he had previously worked as a CIA operative and aimed to rebuild his relationship with the agency.<\/p>\n<p>For the full article, please click \u201cRead on the official site.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>United News Network \u2013 UNN Arabic<br \/>\nAn independent media platform providing reliable news and objective analyses, promoting peace and cultural dialogue worldwide to convey truth and build bridges of understanding among nations.<\/p>\n<p>For more news, visit our homepage:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/\">https:\/\/un-news.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlantic magazine published an extensive investigation revealing the secrets of a senior officer in Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security named Mohammad Hossein Tajik, who led a double life as a CIA spy. Mohammad Hossein Tajik provided intelligence that led to the downfall of prominent global militant leaders before being killed by his father. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}