A mysterious flight between several countries aroused the suspicion of the intelligence agents in Paraguay, and eventually led to the exposure of the Iranians' methods of operation outside the mother arena of the shadow war between Israel and Tehran.
At the center of the affair, which is still ongoing, is a supply plane of the Venezuelan company Emtrasur, which was detained in Argentina on June 8.
The plane had a 19-man air crew, including five Iranians - including the pilot, a physical Golmarza, a former Brigadier General of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Esteban Aquino, Paraguay's intelligence minister, emphasized in an initial interview with Israel Today the "unbreakable" relationship between Jerusalem and Asuncion and warned of Iranian activity in South America, where a pattern of use of straw companies and transport planes allegedly operated by Revolutionary Guards.
"We need to know which side we are on," Aquino explains in a phone call from his seat in Asuncion, drawing a clear line between good and bad.
The senior official's remarks provide a glimpse into Iranian activity on a continent that has witnessed two extremely severe attacks during the 1990s, both in neighboring Argentina, both by Hezbollah and both at the behest of the regime in Tehran.
Landing plane warnings have been issued by several regional intelligence agencies.
Two days later, the plane tried to take off from Buenos Aires for Montevideo, but authorities refused to give it a landing permit.
The aircraft was forced to return to the Argentine capital, but now inspectors and agents who had been warned ahead of time and delayed the plane were waiting for him, forbidding crew members to leave the country.
A group of agents in Paraguay labored vigorously in an attempt to figure out who those people who had landed with them before, in May, had gone through customs and taken with them huge quantities of tobacco for sale.
The token fell
"We learned about it on May 17, and we asked the immigration authorities at exactly 3:40 p.m., because the crew and the plane caught our attention a little bit," Akino recalls of the first moments when he discovered that a group of Iranians had entered Paraguay's territory.
"Within two hours they sent us the documents. My team recognized that the captain, Golmarza Gashmi Abbas, was a senior member of the Iranian company Fars Qeshm Air. We knew the company was managed and controlled by Quds Force."
The plane in South America, Photo: Ai.
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The pattern of action outlined by Minister Aquino looks like a number client of John La Cara.
"The plane entered Paraguay under the company Emtrasur, so it is impossible to guess that it is in fact Mahan Air (Iranian), which belongs to Fars Qeshm Air and that its pilot is a member of the Quds Force service."
The border triangle
The region known as the border triangle between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil is a haven for criminals and terrorists.
"We should always be on the lookout. I believe we need to have the antennas in mind and our eyes open not only because of the plane and the pilot linked to Quds Force, but for other reasons," warns Minister Aquino.
From documents obtained by "Israel Today" one can learn about the rage of the Islamic Republic following the exposure of the suspicious plane.
This is a protest telegram from the Iranian embassy in Uruguay to its Paraguayan counterpart.
"The statements are characterized by an anti-Iranian line on the part of the American authorities and the Zionist regime, which have leveled unfounded accusations," regime officials wrote.
"Iran condemns the allegations and expects the authorities to put an end to it."
Fighting terrorist organizations
Paraguayan president Mario Abdu Benitez announced last weekend that he was adopting a UN Security Council resolution that put the Houthis on the list of terrorist organizations.
This is part of a broad move by the administration going out against organizations affiliated with the regime in Tehran.
"We call things by their names," a senior official told Israel Today.
"This is important so that they know the names and faces behind terrorism and focus on the global struggle," the senior official added.
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