The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will not allow the entry of "virus and termites" into the military institution, asserted the deputy of the Supreme Leader's representative, Hossein Tayyebifar.
Tayyebifar, the IRGC's deputy for clerical affairs, said the IRGC should train forces who will not hesitate to pull the trigger.
Earlier, the former commander of the Guards' Protection of Information Unit, Brigadier Ali Nasiri, denied reports of his arrest on charges of spying for Israel.
The IRGC remained silent about the reports that circulated after the sacking of its intelligence chief, Hussein Taeb.
Taeb was dismissed after a failed Iranian assassination operation targeting Israelis in Turkey.
The Unit is tasked with oversight and supervision of the organization's work. It combats espionage and information leakage.
The Telegraph reported that Iran purged its security services of senior leaders, including an IRGC general, amid fears that Israeli spies had infiltrated it.
The newspaper reported that a week after sacking Taeb, a senior officer was arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel.
Taeb was dismissed in the wake of three major embarrassments for the Iranian intelligence services, which Israeli security officials claim have left the regime "shocked and rattled."
The first was an alleged botched attempt by Iran to carry out a series of revenge attacks on Israeli citizens in Turkey. Israel had publicly raised the alarm about the plot and ordered its citizens to flee the country after warning of an imminent attack.
Last May, Israel published a series of intercepted Iranian documents online, including details about its nuclear program.
Iran suspects that Israel assassinated two of its nuclear scientists by sending agents to poison their food at dinner parties before vanishing.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Israeli officials said the string of events was part of a new tactic to undermine Iranian intelligence known as the "Octopus doctrine," which compares Iran's leadership to the head of an octopus, and its tentacles are the various Iranian proxy groups spread across the Middle East, notably in Syria and Lebanon.
But instead of limiting the effect of these tentacles, the Israeli forces are now heading towards the octopus' head directly.
"The Iranians saw all of that information released by Israel as a huge slap in the face. And they were shocked. They were rattled by it," an Israeli security official told The Telegraph.
Iranian analysts told the newspaper that Hossein Taeb was a crucial figure in the Iranian leadership and enjoyed a close relationship with the Supreme Leader.
Taeb was referred to as "The Judge" because he oversaw the interrogation of prisoners, according to an Iran affairs analyst and former hostage, Kylie Moore-Gilbert.
"Most theories for Taeb's removal are due to IRGC Intel's inability to prevent Israel from operating inside Iran's borders, including conducting high-profile assassinations," said Moore-Gilbert.
The IRGC is not a professional intelligence agency, its members are recruited based on ideological and religious affiliation, and everything is kept 'in the family,' she said, adding that: "you have to have contacts and already know people on the inside to get a foot in the door."
"Many of its operatives are incompetent and poorly skilled for the job. Many of them lack a security mindset or a proper understanding of the conduct of espionage."
