US 'has agents working inside Iran'

The US has intelligence agents in Iran but it is not clear if they are
providing help to the protest movement there, a former US national security
adviser has told Al Jazeera.

Brent Scowcroft said on Wednesday that "of course" the US had agents in Iran
amid the ongoing pressure against the Iranian government by protesters
opposed to the official result of its presidential election.

But he added that he had no idea whether US agents had provided help to the
opposition movement in Iran, which claims that the authorities rigged the
June 12 election in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president.

"They might do. Who knows?" Scowcroft told Josh Rushing for Al Jazeera's
Fault Lines programme.

"But that's a far cry from helping protesters against the combined might of
the Revolutionary Guard, the militias and so on - and the [Iranian] police,
who are so far completely unified."

Scowcroft's admission that Washington has agents stationed in Iran comes a
day after the US president issued tougher rhetoric against the government in
Iran.

Barack Obama's sterner tone came after days of deadly clashes between the
opposition and Iranian security forces and militias.

Obama has been criticised by US conservative politicians for not taking a
stronger line against Tehran amid the government crackdown, but Scowcroft, a
former adviser to presidents Gerald Ford and the senior George Bush, said
the US could only do so much.

"We don't control Iran. We don't control the government, obviously," he
said.

"There is little we can do to change the situation domestically in Iran
right now and I think an attempt to change it is more likely to be turned
against us and against the people who are demonstrating for more freedom.

"Therefore, I think we need to look at what we can do best, which is to try
to influence Iranian behaviour in the region."

At least 19 people have been killed in post-election violence in Iran, which
broke out at the scene of protests questioning the veracity of the poll
results.[NOTE: Iran claims 8 Basijis were among them
http://www.presstv. ir/detail. aspx?id=98984& sectionid= 351020101 ]

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main challenger to Ahmadinejad, has rejected the
official results of the vote and has called for a fresh election to be held,
while Mehdi Karoubi, another defeated candidate in the election, has called
the new government "illegitimate" .

But the Guardian Council, Iran's highest legislative body, has said that
there were no incidences of major fraud in the vote and has declared that
the official results will stand.