U.S. report says Iran expanding intel ops

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Iran has signal intelligence-gathering stations in northern Syria and the Golan Heights to spy on Israel, a U.S. report says

The 64-page report called "Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security: A Profile" was published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress in Washington in December.

It says Iran has signal intelligence stations in several parts of the Middle East, including the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and that the Islamic Republic seeks to expand its intelligence elsewhere in the world.

Signal intelligence, or SIGINT, is the gathering of communications signals, including voice, code and other data and signals from systems that include those for weapons and navigation.

Two signal intelligence stations funded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been active since 2006, the report says. It says one is in the al-Jazirah region in northern Syria, the other on the Golan Heights. Both stations supply information on Israel to Hezbollah, Lebanon's militant Shiite movement, the report says.

Iranian intelligence is active in other countries, including Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Georgia, Germany, Venezuela and apparently Turkey, the report says.