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Former EU Iran envoy admits to spying

Austria’s former ambassador to Iran has admitted to efforts by European embassies in Tehran to engage in intelligence gathering in Iran in aftermath of last June’s presidential elections.

Michael Posti reiterated in a Woodrow Wilson Center’s panel discussion European support for the so-called pro-reform movement in Iran that had falsely alleged fraud in Iran’s tenth presidential election that marked historic 85-percent voter participation, Fars News Agency reports.

He also admitted to obtaining plenty of information using the twitter and the dispatching of diplomatic personnel of European embassies in Tehran throughout the city, complaining that Iranian officials protested such moves as interference in their internal affairs.

In the June 4 event at the US-based George Mason University, Posti made it clear that his mission in Iran was in line with the European Union’s Iran policy that focused on Western opposition to Iran’s nuclear program, “Iranian threats against Israel,” human rights and government restrictions on media and Internet access.

The Austrian diplomat also advocated a “joint statement by the EU and US” before the anniversary of the Iranian election in an apparent effort to incite renewed protests in the country.

The ‘scholarly panel discussion’ of the Woodrow Wilson Center, led by a Jewish Iranian dissident, Shaul Bakhash, also included another anti-Iran politician, former US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, who insisted that the US should keep its military options open in dealing with Iran and redouble efforts to secure the cooperation of Arab states as well as China and Russia “to bring pressure on Iran and support for Israel.”

Iran’s tenth presidential election last June has been described as historic marked by an unprecedented 85-percent participation of eligible voters, in which President Ahmadinejad was reelected to a second term by a landslide margin.

President Ahmadinejad’s main rivals Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, however, led on by mostly foreign-inspired and well-funded propaganda campaigns, disputed the election results, alleging vote fraud that was proven ill-founded following rigorous investigations by legislative and judiciary commissions.

The fraud allegations, however, led to violent riots that marked the involvement and even arrest of Western embassy personnel as well as individuals directed and funded by them.

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