Former US Spy Confirms Rigi's CIA Link, Rejects Ties

A former US intelligence official has admitted that CIA operatives in Pakistan had held talks with the Jundallah terrorist group led by Abdolmalek Rigi.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, a senior Jundallah member, acting on Rigi's behalf, approached CIA agents in Pakistan and told them the group would help the US against both Iran and al-Qaeda, prominent US weekly magazine Newsweek reveals in its March 1 issue.

The former US official, who has asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the information he was providing, said that the Jundallah representative suggested that the group would kidnap leaders of the Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and al-Qaeda and turn them over to the Americans.'

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'Rigi Planned to Meet Holbrooke in Kyrgyzstan'

The captured ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi, was scheduled to meet US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke at the Manas Air Base for talks on waging an insurgency against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a journalist says.

Rigi had planned to meet a high-profile US official at the Manas Air Base near Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek.

This senior US official must have been Holbrooke, who was in Kyrgyzstan to visit the only US air base in Central Asia, the IRNA news agency quoted journalist Wayne Madsen as saying on Saturday.'

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US Offered Rigi 'Extensive Aid' for Iran Attacks

The captured ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi, has confessed that the US administration had assured him of unlimited military aid and funding for waging an insurgency against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The following is the detailed transcript of Rigi's confession, stated in Farsi, as broadcasted on Press TV.

"After Obama was elected, the Americans contacted us and they met me in Pakistan.They met us after clashes with my group around March 17 in (the southeastern city of) Zahedan, and he (the US operative) said that Americans had requested a meeting."

"I said we didn't have any time for a meeting and if we do help them they should promise to give us aid. They said they would cooperate with us and will give me military equipment, arms and machine guns. They also promised to give us a base along the border with Afghanistan next to Iran".'

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Iran Grounds Plane with Rigi Holding US-Issued Passport

Iran's security officers grounded the plane carrying the ringleader of Jundullah terrorist group Abdolmalek Rigi in one of Iran's southern ports, informed sources say.

As initial reports indicated that Iran's most wanted man was captured on a flight en-route to Kyrgyzstan from Dubai, a source talking to Press TV on condition of anonymity confirmed that Rigi and one of his deputies were captured after their plane was brought down by security forces in an airport in the Iranian Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas.

Iran's intelligence minister says the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said Tuesday that the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport.'

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