Iran uses UN General Assembly to conduct influence operation in US

The circus is back in town. A new Iranian president arrives at the United Nations as a smiling mask to an undeterred adversary of the United States and too many credulous media and policy elites in this country cheer on the pageant. This needs to stop.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has obtained a video in which Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi tells the UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen that he met with “old friends” from American think tanks the previous evening.

From 2013 to 2021, when he was chief nuclear negotiator, Araghchi – an affiliate of the designated terrorist group Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – was part of a core network of officials cultivating individuals and entities in the West to promote the Islamic Republic’s narrative, influence policy debates, and infiltrate key institutions without any public disclosure.

Araghchi indicates that he met these think tankers in the past and seems keen on reviving the relationships now that he has regained power. The United States and its allies must be ready to counter this renewed Iranian regime lobbying campaign aimed at easing international pressure, at a time when the IRGC plots terror attacks on American soil and Tehran interferes in the U.S. election.

This sets the scene for the arrival in New York of the Islamic Republic’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA).

Iran follows a well-worn playbook to promote its new presidents in New York: they place an op-ed by a senior official in a major U.S. newspaper, pledging engagement and mutual respect while seeking sanctions relief to enable its malign activities. Tehran offers an interview with the new president to ‘safe’ television networks and anchors in exchange for such access.

Additionally, the regime schedules meetings with former policymakers, think tankers, and others to influence their analyses of Iran’s policies, banking on these individuals using their media platforms to amplify these exclusive connections.

Inevitably, some participants in these discussions will become champions of a “golden opportunity” for rapprochement between the U.S. and Iran. Like Pezeshkian and Araghchi, whom they will label as “moderates,” these Western voices will use this narrative to express Iran’s desire for renewed nuclear talks and ultimately advocate for sanctions relief for the regime.

Araghchi and his Foreign Ministry cohort Javad Zarif and his deputy, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, played starring roles in leaked email correspondence revealing a significant information operation, dubbed “the Iran Experts Initiative,” to influence American and European policy to better serve the Islamic Republic’s interests.

This modus operandi is not restricted to UNGA or America. While passing a warning from an Iranian embassy to one of the authors of this article that they should not be so outspoken, a European think tanker described how they always attain sign-off from an Iranian ambassador prior to publishing content on Iran – a process they recommended to avoid any future warnings. Iranians who live in the West are uniquely susceptible to such threats from Tehran.

A broader circle of academics and former officials in Iran, backed by its intelligence apparatus, also engage leading Western think tanks under the guise of Track II diplomacy, which the regime greenlighted resuming in early 2023.

In fact, the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry has allocated resources for Track II initiatives with the aim to create a “lobby” in the West for relations with Tehran. These are written into Iranian government documents. One Track II participant is Nasser Hadian, a professor at the University of Tehran and known for having extensive ties to the sanctioned Intelligence Ministry.

The Iranian Mission to the United Nations will ensure that aspects of Pezeshkian’s personal biography are showcased during his program in Manhattan to make him more accessible and sympathetic to an American audience. Specifically, that he is a cardiologist and a widower, whose wife and child died in a car crash—mirroring President Joe Biden’s life story. There will be a heavy emphasis on Pezeshkian the “reformist,” despite widespread electoral suppression and his own role in suppressive hijab enforcement

Pezeshkian’s speech before the U.N. General Assembly this week will likely feature the hallmarks of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy—seeking to further stoke an international consensus against Israel in its war against Hamas He will also resurrect and repackage concepts that previous Iranian presidents championed like a “World Against Violent Extremism” and “a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.”

This is all gaslighting to provide space for the IRGC to continue the advancement of the regime’s nuclear program and regional aggression, including via its terrorist proxies, while thwarting international coercive measures in the delusional hope of empowering so-called “moderates” in Iran.

But the regime in Iran won’t just export smiles to UNGA. Last year, members of the Islamic Republic’s delegation threatened and physically attacked U.S.-based Iranian journalists in New York. It was later revealed that one of the perpetrators – granted a visa to attend UNGA by U.S. authorities - was a longstanding member of the Intelligence Ministry, which supports Iran’s terrorist operations abroad.

These aggressive and intimidatory actions are common tactics the Islamic Republic uses against its critics when it travels across the West.

During a Track II diplomacy conference in a European capital, one of the authors of this article had surveillance conducted on him by regime operatives after the Islamic Republic’s delegation was made aware of his presence by participants closely aligned with Tehran.These acts of transnational repression on Western soil cannot be ignored.

The Iranian regime’s nefarious information operations in the U.S. are on a par with China’s and Russia’s. Last week’s joint statement from U.S. authorities revealed Iran’s regime has escalated its efforts to interfere in November’s presidential elections with intent to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral process.”

The statement described these efforts as a “direct threat to the U.S.” that “will not be tolerated.” Yet, instead of denying the Iranian delegation entry to the U.S., Tehran is receiving red-carpet treatment in New York.

The Biden administration should issue a similar statement warning about the influence operations happening this week in New York and immediately deport the visiting Iranian officials.