Hossein Taeb

Hossein Taeb (also Hassan Taeb) is the head of the intelligence bureau of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC) of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and a Hojjatoleslam Shia Muslim cleric. Prior to becoming head of the IRGC intelligence bureau in October 2009 he was commander of the Basij militia. He became acting commander of the Basij sometime before October 29, 2007, and commander on July 14, 2008, and was replaced by Mohammad Reza Naqdi on 4 October 2009.

According to a biography from the "pro-government" Iran Student Correspondents Association summarized in the website Iran Rises, Taeb was born in 1342 (1963/4). 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. Taeb joined the Revolutionary Guards (which supervises the Basij) in 1361 (1982/3), beginning his work in Region 10 of Tehran and continued on to Qom and Mashhad. He was "for some time the Revolutionary Guards’ coordinator with the Leader as well as the cultural commander of Imam Hossein College." He lost a brother in the Kerbala V operation during the Iran-Iraq War and is married with three children.

Under Taeb's command, the Basij have been very active in suppressing protest over the controversial 2009 Iranian presidential elections. The suppression has seen the death of at least dozens of protesters on the streets or in prison.

In public statements Taeb has 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. Taeb has also stated that the post-election "anti-government riots" "killed eight members of the Basij and wounded 300 others."

European sanctions
Private property of Hossein Taeb is frozen by the European Union and he is not allowed to enter Europe because "forces under his command participated in mass beatings, murders, detentions and tortures of peaceful protestors." He has also been black-listed by the U.S government.