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Iranwire – Hezbollah’s pagers are still claiming victims. This time in Iran.
Masoud Asadollahi, the latest victim of Hezbollah’s pagers, revealed on October 11, “An Iranian company facilitated the purchase of Hezbollah pagers that exploded in Beirut.”
His statement came during the “Now Resistance” program, a special broadcast on the Islamic Republic’s state TV celebrating the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Two days after the broadcast, the judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency reported that Asadollahi had been summoned to court for his comments regarding Iran’s alleged involvement in purchasing these devices.
On September 17 and 18, 2024, pagers and wireless communication devices used by Hezbollah for communication exploded simultaneously across Lebanon. The explosions injured more than 3,000 people and killed at least 12, including two children.
Since then, the infiltration of the communication device purchasing system by Israel continues to be a subject of intense scrutiny among analysts.
Who is Masoud Asadollahi?
Before his last statement on state TV, Asadollahi gave numerous interviews to the media, frequently being introduced as “a professor at the IRGC university and a former advisor to General Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force.”
He was commonly presented in media outlets such as the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency as an “international affairs analyst” and “advisor to Qassem Soleimani.” Moreover, in interviews with Taghrib News Agency, he was identified as a “political advisor to the commander of the IRGC ground forces.”
Following Soleimani’s assassination, Asadollahi also appeared on the Mashregh news website – closely associated with the IRGC – as a “military expert” and “deputy to Qassem Soleimani” to discuss the selection of Esmail Qaani as Soleimani’s successor.
Furthermore, Keyhan newspaper, a publication closely aligned with Iran’s Supreme Leader, featured an interview with him under the title “Senior West Asia expert and former advisor to Martyr Soleimani.”
Additionally, Asadollahi conducted a face-to-face interview with Hassan Nasrallah, which was published on the Supreme Leader’s website, highlighting his prominence within Hezbollah and among Iranian officials.
However, his use of these titles ceased after he made controversial statements about the Islamic Republic’s role in procuring pagers and other communication devices for Hezbollah during a live state television program.
Asadollahi claimed, “Hezbollah couldn’t buy pagers due to international sanctions.”. He added, “At Hezbollah’s request, an Iranian company purchased about 5,000 pagers from a well-known Taiwanese brand and supplied them to Hezbollah.”
According to Asadollahi, the Iranian company responsible for purchasing the pagers gave 3,000 pagers to Hezbollah without conducting security checks. He said the devices should have been inspected to ensure they didn’t contain “microphones or listening devices,” but “no one imagined that these pagers would turn into bombs.”
However, Asadollahi did not explain what happened to the remaining 2,000 pagers or whether investigations had been conducted to determine the cause of the explosions.
A day after Asadollahi’s statements aired, the host of the TV show refuted his claims, saying, “Hezbollah had previously denied this.”
Following this, Asadollahi was stripped of his titles in official state media. In the judiciary-affiliated news agency’s report, he was referred to only as a “TV analyst.”
In its report about Asadollahi’s summons, Mizan News claimed that “during the discussion with the prosecutor, Asadollahi admitted that his remarks were based on unreliable sources and, upon further investigation, realized they were incorrect.”
Despite this admission, Asadollahi’s case remains under judicial review.
A Complex Trio: Pagers, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic
Although Asadollahi didn’t specify the “company” involved in purchasing Hezbollah pagers, several media outlets, including The Times of Israel, alleged the involvement of “a relative of an Islamic Republic official.”
According to these reports, this individual “either participated in these incidents or shared confidential information with Israel.”
Meanwhile, some Telegram channels, like “Bism Chi Media,” citing anonymous Hezbollah sources, claimed that Iran was the source of the pagers sent to Lebanon, implicating some prominent political figures in the country.
A channel called “Quds Force,” while not officially affiliated with the IRGC but covering military and security news, reported that Hezbollah negotiated with Islamic Republic officials after deciding to ban its members from using mobile phones.
The channel claimed that Mohammad Reza Aref, a vice president, tasked Bijan Abbasi, the CEO of Irancell Telecom Company, with finding an alternative communication method. Abbasi then assembled a team to address this issue.
The “Quds Force” Telegram channel also alleged that Kambiz Mehdizadeh, Hassan Rouhani’s son-in-law, was introduced as Irancell’s liaison to Hezbollah for the project and suggested Motorola pagers as a suitable alternative. Mehdizadeh, however, denied this claim in an interview with the Rooidad 24 news website.
In response to an article about the advisory role of Irancell’s managers in procuring pagers for Hezbollah, the company’s public relations team issued a statement categorically denying the entire story, asserting that “the claim was completely false.”
Fear of Explosive Pagers in Iran
Nearly a month after the explosion of pagers, radios, and other communication devices across Lebanon, no clear explanation has come from Lebanese, Israeli, or other experts regarding the cause of the explosions.
While Islamic Republic officials have formally or informally denied Iran’s involvement in purchasing and distributing the pagers, several officials have expressed concerns about a similar incident occurring in Iran.
Ebrahim Rezaei, head of the National Security Commission of Parliament, reported on October 5 that members of the commission were concerned about such an event.
In a related development, the spokesperson for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization announced over the weekend that passengers would no longer be allowed to carry electronic communication devices such as pagers or walkie-talkies onto airplanes or in their luggage, except for mobile phones. According to the spokesperson, this ban is “for flight safety” and applies to passenger cabins and checked baggage.
These concerns suggest that, regardless of the Islamic Republic’s role in purchasing contaminated pagers for Hezbollah, there exists a fear that some of these devices may have been distributed within Iran. Authorities are worried that the series of explosions could continue within the country.
