Intelligence Minister: US Virtual Embassy, A Trap

Tehran, Dec 12, IRNA – Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Heydar Moslehi said that a website operating under the name of US Virtual Embassy is a trap and it pursues espionage activities. Hojjatoleslam Moslehi made the remarks at the end of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Sunday, while recalling that the former US Embassy in Iran before its closure after the victory of 1979 Islamic Revolution was also a spy den. “We should warn those who might be deceived by the virtual embassy and inform that it is a kind of trap for conducting espionage activities and the like,” he added. Referring to the fact that the people, particularly the younger generation should be particularly vigilant, Hojjatoleslam Moslehi noted that the US virtual embassy pursues the same path as the former spy den (former US embassy) did. He pointed out that according to diplomatic norms, setting up an embassy should be accepted by the country where the embassy is being set up. “What the Americans have said regarding setting up a website under the title of virtual embassy is unacceptable and it cannot be true,” information minister added. He went on to assert that the US government is suffering from “hallucinations.” “In my capacity as head of the country’s intelligence apparatus, I should remind everyone that the US intelligence apparatus has gone bankrupt,” Hojjatoleslam Moslehi added. He stated that the fact that we see in different situations, Americans engage in such activities is attributed to their political bankruptcy and the fact that they have failed to achieve their desired objectives in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Noting that the Iranian nation will never react positively to the move by the US government, Hojjatoleslam Moslehi said that it is for the same reason that “we see that the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an interview with state-owned BBC television in this regard said that the US does not have access and it cannot pursue its measures in Iran. “As we have announced before, Iran is quite competent in cyberspace and virtual sites so that we have warned some countries where elections have been held that the US has plots for you. We have even said which people want to do what,” he added. Hojjatoleslam Moslehi stated that the passage of time will show how people will deal with the virtual site./end