Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has reportedly ordered all its personnel to stop using any communications devices, at least until inspections of all such equipment have been completed.
The order stipulates that pagers and walkie-talkies used by the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah Exploded39 people were killed and more than 3,000 were injured.
Two senior Iranian security officials said Reuters reported on Monday that the IRGC plans to check all electronic devices carried by its troops – it gets most of its equipment from China and Russia, and in the wake of the Hezbollah explosion, the group is concerned its supply lines may be unsafe.
Security officials said Iran was also concerned about “the infiltration of Israeli agents, including Iranians in Israel's employ,” and that a “thorough investigation” had been launched into mid- and senior-ranking IRGC officers.
“This includes examining his bank accounts inside and outside Iran, and investigating his and his family's travel history,” one of the officials said.
The IRGC has reportedly obtained the remains of exploded Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies to investigate how the attack was carried out, and Iran has asked Hezbollah's clients for a “technical assessment” of last week's blast.
Iranian officials have said they are particularly concerned that Israel could use previously unsuspected weaponized technology in personal electronic devices to monitor or disrupt Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Israel is widely believed to have engineered the pager bombing but has not yet claimed responsibility.
Neither of Reuters' sources would say how the IRGC's roughly 190,000 members currently stay in touch. One source said the Iranian military stopped using pagers “more than 20 years ago.” Another said they use an “end-to-end encrypted messaging system,” but did not say what kind of battery-powered devices could be safely used to send and receive messages.
Iran International, an Iranian opposition news service I realized On Monday, Iranian “regime insider” and former nuclear negotiator Mohammed Marandi posted on social media warning Iranians not to buy electronic equipment from Western, Taiwanese, South Korean or Japanese manufacturers.
The Hezbollah pagers that exploded were ostensibly made by a Taiwanese company, while the walkie-talkies were made by a Japanese company, both of which have denied having anything to do with the explosive devices. Description Treat them as outdated models and imitations.
It is not yet clear whether the pagers and walkie talkies were weaponized during manufacture, or whether they were intercepted and destroyed at some point along the supply chain.
