Georgian Citizen Arrested in Crete Had Studied in Iran

“My son is not a spy”

A Georgian citizen arrested on the Greek island of Crete on charges of spying for Iranian intelligence services, 35-year-old Samir G., is a resident of the Gardabani municipality.

“Monitor” has exclusively learned that the ethnic Azerbaijani Georgian citizen studied at a Shiite madrasa in Marneuli, in the Kvemo Kartli region. He later deepened his religious education for two years in the Iranian city of Qom.

Several years ago, he also had a business in Georgia together with an Iranian citizen, selling salt imported from Iran in Gardabani and Tbilisi.

Samir G. had also applied for asylum in Europe together with his family, but the attempt to settle in Belgium ended with the deportation of the four-member family.

The detainee’s mother, A.G., told “Monitor” in an interview that she is convinced of her son’s innocence and rules out espionage.

“My son is not a spy. He was planning to take his family there (to Crete). The child was supposed to leave school in May so we could spend time there together. My son cannot possibly be a spy! He is 35 years old – if he was a spy, wouldn’t it have become known by now?”

A High-Profile Arrest in Crete

The Georgian citizen was arrested in Greece on March 2, just a few days after the United States and Israel launched the military operation “Epic Wrath” against Iran.

According to Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP), Samir G. flew to Athens from Germany on February 5 and immediately headed for the island of Crete.

Near the city of Chania in Crete, in Souda Bay in the Mediterranean Sea, is located one of NATO’s largest and most strategically important naval bases.

It is the only naval base in the eastern Mediterranean where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers can dock directly at the pier and receive full logistical support.

According to the Greek Sunday newspaper Real News, Samir G. initially rented a hotel room overlooking Souda Bay. Later he paid €17,000 in cash to rent a luxury villa with a better view of the bay and a car for three months.

On February 6, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford entered Souda Bay and within days became involved in the military operation against Iran. Greek intelligence reportedly spotted the Georgian citizen photographing the American aircraft carrier in the bay.

Greek media, citing the Greek intelligence service, report that Samir G.’s phone contained an Iranian encrypted application through which he transmitted information, including photos he himself had taken of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford in Souda Bay.

Samir G. reportedly spoke Persian in the villa and began every conversation with the code phrase:
“Ice cream in Crete is good.”

Authorities also found in his phone the number of an Azerbaijani citizen previously arrested on the island of Crete. That individual had been detained in the summer of 2025 on suspicion of spying for Iran.

“Iran has been trying for years to establish so-called ‘sleeper cells’ in Greece. Their strategy has changed: they no longer rely only on their own citizens but look for third-country nationals—Pakistanis, Azerbaijanis, or people from post-Soviet countries—who can move freely in Greece. The Souda base is a ‘red flag’ for Tehran because it is a key point for projecting U.S. military power into the Middle East,” said Greek military analyst Athanasios Drogos.

“Surveillance of the Souda base is not just about taking photographs. It is a message to the West that Iran has access to and information about NATO’s most protected locations. The fact that agents use coded phrases such as ‘Ice cream in Crete is good’ indicates that this is not amateur activity but a professionally managed network directly connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” retired Vice Admiral Yannis Egolfopoulos of the Greek army told Greek media.

What the Family Says

“Monitor” managed to speak with Samir’s mother and wife. Both reject the possibility that the ethnic Azerbaijani Georgian citizen was involved in espionage.

His mother claims Samir works as a truck driver and had traveled to Europe to visit his father and look for employment.

“He was trying to find work as a driver in Latvia—it is still a Russian-speaking country and he wanted to move there. He had already passed the exams. He also had an offer from Turkey. Earlier he lived in Belgium with his family, but they could not stay and were deported.

He had gone to Germany to visit his father. His father lives there and has a German wife.

Since Samir had a conflict with his wife, he decided to relax a bit in Greece. Air tickets were also cheap. He wanted to reconcile with his wife and bring the children and me there.

That is why he rented a villa in Greece for three months. He called his father and said he would wait there for documents from Latvia,” Samir’s mother told us.

She confirms the information from the Greek intelligence service that Samir speaks several languages.

“He knows Azerbaijani, Georgian, Russian, Persian, Turkish, and some English.

He studied in a madrasa in Marneuli. You can go there and ask what kind of boy he is. From there he was sent to Qom in Iran as a good student.

He completed a ten-year program in two years. He is a very intelligent boy. Maybe many people here do not like him because he knows a lot. They wanted him to become an akhund (religious leader) here, but he refused.”

Samir’s wife says his connection with Iran dates back many years, before they were married.

“He studied in Iran 10–15 years ago. We have been married for 12 years and he has not been to Iran since. Why would he have connections now? Iranians work here as well, in the salt factory. That business also stopped because the Iranian partner, whose name was Taghavi, no longer wanted to continue.”

Samir’s mother told “Monitor” that she learned about her son’s arrest from a Turkish citizen who had also been detained in Crete and happened to meet the Georgian citizen in a prison on the island.

According to the mother, no one from official Georgian institutions—including the State Security Service—has contacted the family so far.

What Is the Georgian State Security Service Investigating?

The arrest in Crete of a Georgian citizen allegedly recruited by Iran to monitor a NATO base and a U.S. aircraft carrier coincided with the publication of a new report by the Hudson Institute.

The report, titled “Georgia’s Iranian Turn: Tehran’s Rapid Expansion of Influence in a Once Strong U.S. Ally,” claims that “Tbilisi facilitates Iranian infiltration while allowing Tehran to build a broad network of influence infrastructure.”

According to the authors, Iranian intelligence activity is “particularly focused on the ethnic Azerbaijani Shiite population living mainly in the Kvemo Kartli region.” Iran has long considered this part of Georgia’s population a strategically important target and uses various methods to influence it.

The report states that Iran’s ayatollah regime influences Georgian ethnic Azerbaijanis through religious and educational institutions, such as Al-Mustafa International University in Qom.

This university, which is sanctioned by the United States, annually teaches Shiite Islam and the Persian language to Georgian citizens through an official branch. In this way, “clerical networks loyal to Iran are formed.”

According to the Hudson Institute’s conclusion, “this activity directly threatens U.S. national security interests in the South Caucasus, undermines Western influence, and strengthens the Iranian regime.”

After the publication of this report, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) launched an investigation into the “motives” of the report’s authors and several experts and summoned them for questioning.

Among them was former Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli, who called Al-Mustafa International University in Qom a terrorist network.

The SSG opened an investigation under Article 319 of the Criminal Code, which concerns assisting a foreign country or organization in hostile activities.

After identifying Samir G. and speaking with his family members, “Monitor” addressed questions to the State Security Service: whether they had information about the investigation underway in Greece, whether they had studied the individual detained in Crete, and whether he had possible links to Iranian intelligence services and so-called “religious-educational” organizations.

The SSG responded:

“You are requesting intelligence information, which is not serious. The same applies to the question of whether we are studying a criminal case that is currently being handled by Greek law enforcement authorities.”

Professor Giorgi Sanikidze of Ilia State University and director of the Giorgi Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies told “Monitor” that the fact that the detainee in Crete studied in Qom, Iran, “is of course a clear example that the indoctrination and use of some Georgian citizens (by Iran) is taking place. The rest should be known to the intelligence services.”