'Don't You Have A Smart TV?': Iranian General's Smartwatch Defense Fuels Security Concerns
by Kian Sharifi · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · Join"Don't you have a smart TV at home?"
That was the response of Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, the longtime head of Iran's Passive Defense Organization, when asked about security risks after being photographed last week wearing a smartwatch.
In the wake of the assassinations of several Iranian officials -- including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this year -- the remark has sparked widespread criticism over security in a country mired in a conflict that continues to flare up at a moment's notice.
When pressed by a reporter, Jalali doubled down on his stance.
“If we were at war, there would be no flights,” he added as he played down concerns about the security risks associated with senior officials having smart gadgets which are susceptible to being tracked.
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The Islamic republic has suffered a string of major security breaches in recent years, from the theft of its nuclear archive in 2018 to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran guesthouse in 2024.
But none was as devastating as the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran, when the opening strikes killed Khamenei and a cadre of the country's top military commanders.
The Financial Times later reported that Israel had hacked traffic cameras and penetrated mobile phone networks to track Khamenei and the commanders meeting him in the run-up to the strikes.
While US air strikes have more or less halted, the conflict has shown flashes of reigniting as struggling diplomatic talks fail to bring an official end to the war, now in its eighth month.
It is against that backdrop that the sight of Jalali wearing a networked device has struck a nerve.
Critics expressed disbelief at Jalali’s handling of the criticism, arguing that someone in his position should be more mindful of security risks.
“You are not an ordinary citizen who can simply say that people also have smart TVs at home and leave it at that,” news website Tabnak wrote.
“Your responsibilities require you to be more vigilant than others about infiltration, espionage, information leaks, and any potential means of collecting sensitive data.”
Rooz No, another news website, pointed out the irony of Jalali’s wearing a smartwatch given that his organization -- which is responsible for protecting critical infrastructure and countering cyber and other nonconventional threats -- had prepared guidelines for the use of smartphones by officials.
It noted that Jalali had said in 2015 that officials with access to classified information should not use smartphones and should instead use basic phones for official business because of information-security concerns.
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He warned that smart devices and social media could expose sensitive user data to technology companies and foreign governments. He reiterated similar concerns in July 2025 following the 12-day war with Israel, describing smartphones as having at least 18 major vulnerabilities.
Jalali’s approach, Rooz No argued, raises questions “about the gap between the security rules set for the country and those followed by officials responsible for national security.”
Jalali, who was formally appointed as the head of the Passive Defense Organization by Khamenei in 2015, has made a number of controversial claims over the years.
He famously made headlines in 2018 for blaming Iran’s struggle with drought on hostile nations, including Israel, whom he said were “stealing clouds.”
On social media, some users shared photos of other senior military figures wearing smartwatches, questioning overall security discipline in the upper ranks of the armed forces.
Conservative commentator Ali Qolhaki charged that it was “this kind of carelessness” that enabled Israel and the United States to eliminate senior figures.
“It is strange that the country’s senior security and military officials use smartwatches, particularly given that our foremost enemy is Israel, which makes the best possible use of even the smallest slip-up,” he wrote on X.
'Don't You Have A Smart TV?': Iranian General's Smartwatch Defense Fuels Security Concerns
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