{{Short description|Iranian Shia cleric}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Hossein Taeib in 2023.jpg | caption = Hojjatol Eslam Hossein Taeb visiting university students at Shahed University, Tehran. | name = Hossein Taeb | office = Director of the IRGC Intelligence Organization | term_start = 2009 | term_end = 2022 | president = Mahmoud Ahmadinejad<br>Hassan Rouhani<br>Ebrahim Raisi | predecessor = Office Established | successor = Mohammad Kazemi | predecessor1 = Mohammad Hejazi | president1 = Mahmoud Ahmadinejad | successor1 = Mohammad Reza Naqdi | term_start1 = 2007 | term_end1 = 2009 | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1963}} | birth_place = Tehran, Iran | party = | 1blankname = {{nowrap|Supreme Leader}} | 1namedata = Ali Khamenei<br>Mojtaba Khamenei | 1blankname1 = {{nowrap|Supreme Leader}} | 1namedata1 = Ali Khamenei | office1 = Commander of the Basij | spouse = | allegiance = {{IRN}} | branch = IRGC | service_years = 1982–2022 | battles = {{tree list}} * Iran–Iraq War * 2009 Iranian presidential election protests * Syrian civil war ** Iranian intervention in Syria * War in Iraq (2013–2017) ** Iranian intervention in Iraq {{tree list/end}} | honorific_prefix = Hujjat al-Islam | alma_mater = | native_name_lang = fa | native_name = حسین طائب }} '''Hossein Taeb''' ({{langx|fa|حسین طائب}}) (born 1963) is an Iranian Shia cleric and former senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official who was head of the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC.<ref name="qline" />

==Early life and education == Taeb was born in 1342 (1963/4).{{efn|According to a biography from the pro-government Iran Student Correspondents Association summarized in the website Iran Rises,}}

After his middle education, he went to seminary school and reached an advanced degree (''kharej'') in Islamic jurisprudence after studying in Tehran, Mashhad, and Qom. He had studied with, among others, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

== Career == Taeb joined the IRGC (which supervises the Basij) in 1361 (1982/3), beginning his work in Region 10 of Tehran, and continued on to Qom and Mashhad. For a while he was IRGC coordinator with the Supreme Leader of Iran as well as the cultural commander of Imam Hossein College".

Under Taeb's command, the Basij played a key role in suppressing protests over the controversial 2009 Iranian presidential elections. The suppression saw the death of at least dozens of protesters on the streets or in prison.<ref name="abdo">{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/07/the_rise_of_the_Iranian_dictatorship |title=The Rise of the Iranian Dictatorship |website=GENEIVE ABDO |date=7 October 2009 |access-date=13 October 2009}}</ref> He was also involved in other controversial activities, such as: involvement in the "chain murders" of Iranian intellectuals in the 1990s, and targeting of Iranian dissidents abroad, including assassinations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kia |first=Shahriar |date=29 June 2022 |title=Who Is Hossein Taeb, Recently Booted From Iran’s IRGC Intelligence Organization? |url=https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/anews/who-is-who/who-is-hossein-taeb-recently-booted-from-irans-irgc-intelligence-unit/ |access-date=10 March 2025 |website=NCRI |language=en-US}}</ref>

In public statements Taeb cautioned Iranians that the United States was "hiring agents and mercenaries in an effort to continue its plots for a soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic," according to the Iranian Fars news agency.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8807011463 |title=Basij Commander: US Hiring Agents for Soft Overthrow of Islamic Republic |website=farsnews |date=23 September 2009 |access-date=23 September 2009}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929074511/http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8807011463 |date=29 September 2011 }}</ref> Taeb has also stated that the post-election "anti-government riots" "killed eight members of the Basij and wounded 300 others."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSDAH316769 |title=Iran opposition says 72 died in post-poll unrest |website=Reuters |date=3 September 2009 |access-date=23 September 2009}}</ref>

In 2022, he and his family members were sanctioned by the US Department of State for his involvement in human rights violations in Iran.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Report to Congress on Identification of, and Immigration Restrictions on, Senior Officials of the Government of Iran and Their Family Members, 22 USC 8727 |url=https://www.state.gov/report-to-congress-on-identification-of-and-immigration-restrictions-on-senior-officials-of-the-government-of-iran-and-their-family-members-22-usc-8727/ |access-date=28 February 2022 |publisher=United States Department of State |language=en}}</ref>

Taeb was dismissed from his position as head of Intelligence of the IRGC in June 2022. This is speculated to be due to an incident where an alleged Iranian operation to attack Israeli tourists in Turkey was outed, resulting in the arrest of the agents and a diplomatic spat with Turkey, as well as other incidents that suggested successful Israeli spy operations that Taeb failed to prevent. The dismissal also coincided with the arrest of Brigadier General Ali Nasiri on suspicion of spying for Israel.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/world/middleeast/israel-iran-spy-chief.html |title=Israel's Spies Have Hit Iran Hard. In Tehran, Some Big Names Paid the Price. |website=www.nytimes.com}}</ref>

===Offices=== {{as of |2009}}, the list of his responsibilities included:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hra-news.org/news/2581.aspx |title=اطلاعات موازی رسماً جایگزین وزارت اطلاعات می‌شود] |trans-title=Parallel Intelligence Officially Replaces the Ministry of Intelligence |website=www.hra-news.org}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730011938/http://www.hra-news.org/news/2581.aspx |date=30 July 2009}} هرانا <br>[http://www.rfi.fr/actufa/articles/115/article_7609.asp هشدار کروبی به وزارت اطلاعات] رادیو فرانسه www.rfi.fr</ref> * Deputy Culture of Joint Staff of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps * Commander department of Culture of Imam Hossein University * Commander of the Basij from 29 October 2007 to 2009<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iran-daily.com/1386/2978/html/national.htm |title=Basij Mission Cultural |website=Iran Daily |date=29 June 2009 |access-date=23 September 2009}}</ref><ref name="qline">{{cite web |url=http://www.qlineorientalist.com/IranRises/hosein-taeb/ |title=Hosein Taeb |website=Iran Rises |date=30 August 2009 |access-date=23 September 2009}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219063407/http://www.qlineorientalist.com/IranRises/hosein-taeb/ |date=19 December 2009 }}</ref> * Head of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from October 2009 to June 2022<ref name="afp">{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091004/wl_mideast_afp/iranmilitary_20091004193552 |title=Iran's Khamenei reshuffles Revolutionary Guards top brass |website=AFP |date=October 4, 2009}}</ref>

==Personal life== Taeb lost a brother in the Operation Karbala-5 during the Iran–Iraq War. He is married with three children.<ref name="qline" />

== International sanctions == Private property of Hossein Taeb is frozen by the European Union and he is not allowed to enter Europe<ref name="eu">Official Journal of the European Union, 14 April 2001: [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:100:0001:0011:EN:PDF COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No 359/2011 of 12 April 2011 concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons, entities and bodies in view of the situation in Iran]</ref> because "forces under his command participated in mass beatings, murders, detentions and tortures of peaceful protestors."<ref name="eu" /> He has also been blacklisted by the U.S. government.<ref>{{cite news |title=IRAN |url=http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg877.aspx |publisher=U.S. Treasury Department}}</ref>

== Notes == {{notelist}}

== References == {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Mohammad Hejazi}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander of Basij|years=2007–2009}} {{s-aft|after=Mohammad Reza Naqdi}} {{s-new|reason=Agency founded}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander of Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|years=2009–2022}} {{s-aft|after=Mohammad Kazemi}} {{s-end}} {{IRGC Commanders}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Taeb, Hossein}} Category:Iranian Shia clerics Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:Directors of intelligence agencies Category:Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps clerics Category:People of Iranian intelligence agencies