Iranian Official Claims Abbas Works for CIA

A senior official in the Iranian foreign ministry has accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of being a longtime agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.

An advisor to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Shiekh al-Islam said, “That man [Abbas] is known to us and documents from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran revealed that he has been a collaborator with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for a long time and his actions in the past decades have proved that.”

The statement followed a meeting in Paris between Abbas and Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group. Abbas hosted Rajavi at his hotel and updated her on the latest developments in the Palestinian authority, according to Wafa, the official PA news site.

Wafa subsequently ran a press release from the Fatah Media and Culture Commissariat, intimating that Iran is carrying out a campaign to undermine Abbas.

“A careful reading of advisor to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Sheikh al-Islam’s statements…have made clear to us of the horror that many people are carrying out to serve the Zionist project through organized campaigns against the president of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian issue.”

According to Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian leader’s decision to tilt toward the “moderate Sunni alliance,” which includes Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, in collaboration with Israel, is what is driving the Iranian charge.

“The Palestinian Authority has made a decision to align itself with the so-called moderate Sunni Arab governments and in the meantime distance itself from Iran and the Shiite camp in the region because it does not want to lose political and financial support of [the former].”

He continued, “That’s why the PA and President Mahmoud Abbas met with the Iranian opposition leader.”