Tasnim – Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Hossein Salami said the recent arrest of Ruhollah Zam, the head of an anti-Iranian website and Telegram channel, has taken foreign intelligence services by surprise.

In a statement released on Sunday, Major General Salami thanked the religious scholars, officials, commanders, and people, who have expressed satisfaction with the arrest of Zam, the head of the counter-revolutionary website “www.amadnews.org” and Telegram channel “Amadnews”.

The IRGC intelligence forces managed to deal “a heavy blow” to the enemies and show their intelligence superiority over the hegemonic states, he stated.

With this “world-class and professional intelligence” move, one of the enemies’ tools to wage psychosocial war against Iran, spark street riots, and sow discord among Iranian officials, was arrested and the arrogant powers’ intelligence services were astounded, the IRGC commander went on to say.

On Tuesday, the IRGC announced in a statement that in a “complicated” operation, it had managed to arrest the administrator of a website “directed and supported by France’s intelligence service”.

The IRGC emphasized that Zam had been running extensive psychological warfare in recent years with direct logistical support of foreign intelligence services and counter-revolutionary agents outside the country in order to sow discord inside Iran, stoke Iranophobia, disseminate lies, foment doubt among the younger generation about religious beliefs, prepare the ground for acts of violence and terror and create chaos and unrest inside the country.

“This evil mercenary element” was busted during a “sophisticated” intelligence operation, according to the IRGC statement.

“Despite being under the guidance of the French intelligence service and the support of the US and Zionist intelligence services…, and being guarded round the clock by various means and covers, he fell into a trap laid by… the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization,” the statement read.

Amadnews was suspended by the messaging app Telegram last year after Iran accused it of carrying calls for violence during protests that started in late 2017 and continued across the country. But the channel soon reappeared under a new name.