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Ahmadinejad accuses 'ring' in Iran intelligence of espionage

The serious allegation marked a new episode in the ex-president's confrontations with the Revolutionary Guards and its powerful intelligence branch.  
Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses reporters at the Interior Ministry headquarters.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused a "corrupt ring" inside Iran's intelligence apparatus of maintaining "a systematic link" with foreign espionage agencies.

"They have to brace for trials," Ahmadinejad, who served as head of state from 2005-2013, warned the group, without naming its members. But the former president left more than enough signs in his video message that "the ring" in question was within the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In recent months, the once conservative politician favored by the ruling elite, who is now seen as a dissident, has not shied away from revealing his frictions with the intelligence agency as well as the entire hard-line ruling establishment.

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