New Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi has begun deep-seated reform among Iran's 16 intelligence and security services, according to an intelligenceonline report. Some of the changes stemmed from a personnel change at the presidency and some began before Raisi's inauguration, due to the successes of foreign intelligence services in operating in the country.

Raisi presented the reform to the Iranian parliament which included the transfer of 5,000 agents from Vevak (also known as MOIS) to other services. According to the publication, the purpose of the move is to introduce "new blood," more religious, into the system.

One of the first steps Raisi took was to fire Mahmoud Alavi, who has headed the Vevak since 2013, replacing cleric Ismail Khatib, formerly head of intelligence in the Qom area.

All this is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran), which is responsible for ensuring the loyalty of Vevak agents, although the ministry is subordinate to the Supreme Council of National Security, which reports to Bureau 101 under the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The new president also intends to change the teams responsible for nuclear negotiations. Appointments so far illustrate the dominance of the Revolutionary Guards, including intelligence chief Hussein Tayeb, who was put in charge of overseeing the nuclear program following the assassination of nuclear scientist Muhsin Pakrizadeh in November 2020.