Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) serves as the long arm of the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism. Washington should treat it accordingly.
On March 25, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned three MOI officials for their role in the kidnapping and probable death of former FBI agent Robert A. Levinson, whom Tehran’s agents abducted on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007. Washington issued the sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 14078, which implements the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act of 2020. This statute mandates the appointment of a special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and authorizes sanctions on foreign individuals complicit in wrongful detentions. The latest sanctions build on a 2020 designation under the same executive order of other MOI officials complicit in Levinson’s abduction.
MOI Executes Assassination and Abduction Plots Globally
Established in 1983 as the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) but subsequently renamed MOI, the ministry tortures and executes Iranian activists and dissidents on sham charges, engages in gross human rights abuses, and carries out assassinations and kidnappings against targets across Europe and North America.
The U.S. Justice Department announced charges against MOI operatives plotting the assassination of two Maryland residents in January 2024. Last December, Treasury sanctioned two Iranian MOI officers for recruiting persons on U.S. soil to target U.S. officials. And in 2021, Treasury sanctioned four MOI agents for orchestrating the kidnappings of U.S. citizens and Iranian dissidents on U.S. soil.
Further exposing its global reach, a joint U.S.-UK effort in January 2024 designated an MOI transnational repression network employing criminals to target Iranian dissidents abroad. Over the past three years, British intelligence responded to a reported 20 Iran-backed plots on UK soil directed by the MOI or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Other examples of the MOI’s long arm include using the Swedish Foxtrot gang — which Treasury sanctioned earlier this month — to attack the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. The MOI was also likely responsible for the death of an Iranian fugitive judge in Romania in 2020. Additionally, the MOI has orchestrated kidnappings and assassinations of Iranian dissidents in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey and launched cyberattacks against Israel.
MOI’s Support for Terrorist Groups
Treasury designated the MOI in February 2012 under Executive Order 13224 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) for its support of terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and al-Qaeda, as well as the former Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad. The MOI has facilitated joint computer hacking projects with Hezbollah and provided both financial and technological support for Hamas. The ministry has also facilitated the movement of al-Qaeda operatives through Iran.
At the same time, Washington also sanctioned Iran’s MOI under Executive Order 13572 for its role in enabling the Syrian regime’s violent crackdowns during the country’s civil war via financial and technical support to Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate.
FTO Designation and Foreign Pressure Should Supplement SDGT Status
The MOI’s past operations demonstrate its continued use of terrorism and retention of this capability against U.S. national security interests, making it low-hanging fruit for a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation by the U.S. State Department. Such a designation would complement existing terrorism sanctions by — among other consequences — increasing the criminal penalties for material support to the group as well as subjecting its members to a visa ban.
Washington should also persuade allies to follow suit. While the European Union has designated a branch of the MOI and several MOI officials, the United States should press the European Union, and all “Five Eyes” partners — the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — to hold Tehran fully accountable for its terrorism-related activities on their soil by designating the MOI in its entirety as a terrorist organization.
Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), whereBehnam Ben Taleblu is senior director of the Iran Program and a senior fellow. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribeHERE. Follow Janatan and Behnam on X@JanatanSayeh and@therealBehnamBT. Follow FDD on X@FDD and@FDD_Iran. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.