Former US spy confirms Rigi’s CIA link, rejects ties

A former US intelligence official has admitted that CIA operatives in Pakistan had held talks with the Jundallah terrorist group led by Abdolmalek Rigi.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, a senior Jundallah member, acting on Rigi’s behalf, approached CIA agents in Pakistan and told them the group would help the US against both Iran and al-Qaeda, prominent US weekly magazine Newsweek reveals in its March 1 issue.

The former US official, who has asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the information he was providing, said that the Jundallah representative suggested that the group would kidnap leaders of the Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and al-Qaeda and turn them over to the Americans.

However, according to the former official, US officials ”flatly” rejected any relationship with the group but “the door was left slightly ajar in case Jundallah really did capture important al-Qaeda operatives.”

US observers say such double-talk by US officials and deliberately publicized by a major magazine that is known to be heavily influenced by the Israeli lobby in Washington, is nothing new. The obvious intent of such ‘news’ items is to divert attention from facts and the overwhelming evidence that point to the collusion between Rigi and Washington.

Newsweek magazine is the subsidiary of another major news outlet in the US, The Washington Post. The are known to have a “liberal agenda” and reflect the views and values of the Democratic Party, which is heavily influenced by the pro-Israel Jewish lobby.

Last week, Iranian security forces captured ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi, while he was on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.

Rigi, whose group has accepted responsibility for numerous deadly attacks against Iranian civilians and security forces in southeast Iran, said after his arrest that he enjoyed the backing of Western intelligence agencies in committing acts of terror against Iran.

In a televised confession Rigi said that in a Dubai meeting with CIA agents, they promised to provide him with a military base anywhere near the Iranian border equipped with weaponry and training facilities.

“After Obama was elected, the Americans contacted us and they met me in Pakistan…. They said they would cooperate with us and will give me military equipment, arms and machine guns. They also promised to give us a base along the border with Afghanistan next to Iran,” he said.

The terrorist leader emphasized that in their meetings with him, US operatives insisted that Iran is their primary focus in the region, even more important than al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

According to Rigi’s confessions, CIA agents also explained to him that since a US military attack on Iran would be very difficult, they intend to support all anti-Iran groups that have the capability of waging war inside Iran and to destabilize the country.

While the Newsweek story rejects Rigi’s confessions as “complete nonsense,” quoting the US State Department spokesman P J Crowley, it does not bother to explain the evidence that he was carrying a US-issued Afghan passport, as well as why he was flying to Kyrgyzstan, where the US operates a major military facility.