Leaks reveal Brotherhood’s plots in association with Iran, Turkey
As protests sweep all over Iran, a
recent report has revealed the country’s strong ties with the Muslim
Brotherhood. The US-based The Intercept website has released a report revealing
the Brotherhood’s ties with Iran and Turkey. The New York Times also unveiled
intelligence leaks exposing Iran’s ties with the Brotherhood.
There were public meetings and
contacts between Iranian and Egyptian officials while Muslim Brotherhood-backed
Mohamed Morsi was president of Egypt from 2012 to 2013.
The 2014 summit brought together the
foreign military arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the
Quds Force, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a sprawling Islamist political movement
with significant influence throughout the region.
The summit came at a critical moment
for both the Quds Force and the Muslim Brotherhood, which may explain why the
two sides agreed to talk. When the meeting was held in April 2014, the Islamic
State was tearing across the Sunni-dominated regions of northern Iraq. The
Iraqi Army was melting away in the face of the terrorist group’s brutal
tactics, and ISIS was threatening the stability of the Iraqi government in
Baghdad.
Commenting on the leaks, researcher Firas
Elias, an expert on Iranian affairs, said that the ties between Iran and the
Muslim Brotherhood have been a complicated and strategic.
“The Brotherhood’s founder Hassan
El-Banna met the Shiite leader Ayatollah Kashani in 1948,” Elias told THE
REFERENCE.
The researcher explained that the
ties have been strong between the group and Iran since El-Banna.
“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
has even translated two books authored by Sayyid Qutb,” he noted.
He added that the Brotherhood has
branches in many countries including Iran, where the Brotherhood is an active group
called Da’wah and Islah, which has strong ties with the Iranian regime.