Propaganda in Iran

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Propaganda in Iran originates from the Iranian government and "private" entities, which are usually state controlled.

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Qasem Soleimani killing a crocodile (USA) with Iran's flag Qasem Soleimani killing a crocodile (USA) with Iran's flag.jpg
Qasem Soleimani killing a crocodile (USA) with Iran's flag

Propaganda can be disseminated through any medium, including television, film, newspaper, posters, murals, political actions, rallies, violence, and websites. Propaganda in The Islamic Republic of Iran also includes censorship. According to Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, "Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist." [1]

Censorship in Iran

One of the biggest issues Iran is criticized for is censorship. Aided by Western technology from Nokia and Siemens, the Iranian government has created one of the most sophisticated censorship platforms created in modern times. [2]

Methods

The defaced Great Seal of the United States in 2004. The Iconoclasm shown is a form of propaganda US Embassy Tehran.JPG
The defaced Great Seal of the United States in 2004. The Iconoclasm shown is a form of propaganda
Tehran US embassy propaganda gun Teheran US embassy propaganda gun.jpg
Tehran US embassy propaganda gun

Violence/Fear

On October 8, 2006, cleric Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi was arrested for opposing Velaayat-e Faghih, advocating the separation of religion from state, and defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [3]

The Iranian government has also falsely attributed crimes to dissident groups such as the MEK; in a particularly instance with a witness saying he was "pressured and promised a reduced sentence if he would say that his eye injuries had not been caused by the Islamic Republic of Iran but by 'the hypocrites' [—] a word they used to refer to Mojahedin Organization." [4]

Judicial system of Iran

Iranian Justice System has also been known to espouse propaganda. This is especially true in the prison system of Iran where Political prisoners were "incessantly bombarded with propaganda from all sides ... radio and closed-circuit television ... loudspeakers blaring into all cells even into solitary cells and `the coffins` [where some prisoners were kept] ... ideological sessions." Any reading material of a secular nature such as Western novelists, or even religious material that didn't agree ideologically with the Islamic Republic such as work by Ali Shariati was banned. [5] [6]

The Basij

The Basij are a component of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). [7] With the IRGC's help and support, Basij members are trained in propaganda and political warfare techniques using media outlets. There are about 21,000 volunteer "reporters" that have trained with the IRGC on multiple waves of communication and media, which include social networks, television, radio, print media, and the internet. [8] [3]

According to Reporters Without Borders, "In Iran, the Revolutionary Guards recently announced their ambition to build their own spinternet by launching 10,000 blogs for the Basij, a paramilitary force under the Guards. This comes at a time when the Internet has become a major force in exposing corruption in the highest ranks of the Iranian leadership." [9] As well, cyber-police "are here to create a cyber police force inside the people’s mind,” said Hesamedin Mojtahed, the officer in charge of the booth. “People want to be informed of the dangers on the Internet,” he said. “We are here for them.” [10]

Media of Iran

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) is the sole, official provider, of broadcast news in Iran. IRIB operates many channels in a multitude of languages and is known to broadcast propaganda. [11] [12] IRIB is the main hub for which all Iranian propaganda is created and disseminated. The multiple channels that make up IRIB all have a specific purpose. On every IRIB channel, Israel is referred to as the "Zionist Regime". [13]

Conferences and Lectures

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University in Fall 2007 was, according to BBC News, an attempt to convince international opinion and the United States population of the rightness of his cause. [14] [15]

The Islamic Republic of Iran held an anti-terrorism conference which featured representatives from "neighboring countries Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan as well as Sudan, Tajikistan, Mauritania and the Vice-President of Cuba and Ministers and other high-level delegates from 60 States, representatives of the United Nations (Officer in Charge of CTITF), the OIC, and other regional organizations as well as distinguished scholars and researchers and peace activists from all around the world participated in the Conference." [16] With Iran being a state-sponsor of terrorist activities, and many of the nations in attendance, including many of the African representatives, users of terrorism, the anti-terrorism conference is propaganda. [17] [18] It was quite successful as well because the United Nations endorsed the meeting and sent a delegation to partake in the event. [18] During the event, "Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei took the opportunity to excoriate western nations for "terrorist behaviors," and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed his doubts about the September 2001 terrorist attacks on America – outrageously claiming that the U.S has benefited from those attacks, as it has, he added, from the Holocaust." [19]

Cyber Police

Iran has created a Cyber Police unit in January 2011, known by the acronym FATA. Since then it has arrested several bloggers critical of Iran’s leaders, as well as a group of youths who had created a “hot or not” contest on Facebook rating profile pictures of boys and girls [20] The unit was created to "control which sites Iranians are able to visit, to prevent spying and protect the public from `immoral` material. The United States, they charge, is waging a `soft war` against Iran by reaching out to Iranians online and inciting them to overthrow their leaders [21] ". From the Iranian regime's standpoint, any free information is a threat to power. The internet was a major factor for organizing and showing the world what was happening during the 2009 presidential election. The United States asked Twitter to postpone online maintenance in 2009 so that it would be available for Iranian protesters. [22] On 1 December 2012, General Saeed Shokrian, commander of FATA, was dismissed by Iranian’s national police chief, Ismael Ahmadi-Moqaddam, for negligence in death of blogger Sattar Beheshti while in FATA custody one month earlier. The dismissal followed international outcry over the death. Shokrian stated “Tehran’s FATA should be held responsible for the death of Sattar Beheshti”. [23]

Iranian propaganda abroad

Worldwide

Iranian state-controlled media such as Press TV or Mehr News Agency actively target global audiences in multiple languages, including English, French, or Spanish. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these outlets featured Iranian propaganda criticising democracies' response to the pandemic as weak and hypocritical, promoting the Iranian approach in fighting the outbreak, and spreading conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus. [24] One study by the Oxford Internet Institute [25] found that Iranian outlets were heavily active in spreading conspiracy theories suggesting that the virus may have originated in a military biolaboratory.

In June 2021 the U.S. Justice Department said it seized and took offline 36 websites linked to Iran, "many of them associated with either disinformation activities or violent organizations". [26]

The Arab World

In August 2018, Twitter suspended 770 accounts originating in Iran for engaging in coordinated manipulation [27] In October 2018, Twitter publicly shared data on the 770 accounts on their Election Integrity Hub [28] In a study focusing on the Arab world, the researchers found that more than half of these accounts generated Arabic content to target Arab Twitter users [29] In this study, it was found that the Arabic tweets were not aiming to socially engage with other Arab users but rather to promote certain websites, and more than 69% of the links shared were to pro-Iran Arabic-language news websites [29] The accounts that tweeted in Arabic imitated Arabic local news outlets trying to build credibility in the region [29]

Alavi Foundation

The Alavi Foundation is the successor organization to the Pahlavi Foundation, a nonprofit group used by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to advance Iran's charitable interests in America. Most of the charities income is from rent collected on the New York Fifth Avenue skyscraper the Piaget Building, which was built in 1978 under the Shah, who was overthrown in 1979.

The FBI laid out a case against the Alavi Foundation that it was being used as a front group for the Iranian government. It was built in the 1970s by the Pahlavi Foundation to further the interest of then Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. [30] Some of the tenants of the foundation's properties are Islamic centers and schools. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

Following a crackdown on Iranian media beginning in 2000, many Iranians turned to weblogging to provide and find political news. The first Persian language blog is thought to have been created by Hossein Derakhshan,, in 2001. Derakhshan also provided readers with a simple instruction manual in Persian on how to start a blog. In 2004, a census of blogs around the world by the NITLE found 64,000 Persian language blogs. In that year the Islamic government also began to arrest and charge bloggers as political dissidents and by 2005 dozens of bloggers had been arrested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps</span> Military organization to protect the political system of the Islamic Republic in Iran

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also called Sepah or Pasdaran, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979, in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. Whereas the Iranian Army protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC's constitutional mandate is to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic. Most interpretations of this mandate assert that it entrusts the IRGC with preventing foreign interference in Iran, thwarting coups by the traditional military, and crushing "deviant movements" that harm the ideological legacy of the Islamic Revolution. Currently, the IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohsen Rezaee</span> Iranian politician and senior military officer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basij</span> Iranian paramilitary volunteer militia

The Basij, Niru-ye Moghāvemat-e Basij), full name Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin, is one of the five forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The force is named Basij; an individual member is called basiji in the Persian language. As of July 2019, Gholamreza Soleimani is the commander of the Basij.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parviz Fattah</span> Iranian politician

Sayyid Parviz Fattah is an Iranian conservative politician and former member of Revolutionary Guard. He is currently head of the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order since 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hassan Abbasi</span> Iranian conspiracy theorist

Hassan Abbasi is an Iranian conspiracy theorist and an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officer who heads its think-tank 'Center for Borderless Security Doctrinal Analysis'. Abbasi is primarily known for his conspiracy theories, and for delivering controversial speeches on issues including economics, history, politics and cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran</span> National police force of Iran

The Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran, previously known as the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran or Disciplinary Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, abbreviated as Faraja, is the uniformed police force in Iran. The force was created in early 1992 by merging the Shahrbani, Gendarmerie, and Islamic Revolutionary Committees into a single force. It has more than 260,000 police personnel, including border guard personnel, and is under the direct control of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who is the head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. In 2003, some 40000 women became the first female members of the police force since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The Guidance Patrol, commonly called the "morality police", was a vice squad/Islamic religious police in the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, established in 2005 with the task of arresting people who violate the Islamic dress code, usually concerning the wearing by women of hijabs covering their hair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces</span> Land service branch of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces, acronymed NEZSA, are the land force which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), maintain in parallel to the regular army of Iran. In addition to their conventional military role, the revolutionary guards' ground forces are more geared towards internal disorder than the regular army. However, in late years, the IRGC Ground Forces and by extension the entire IRGC, have transitioned to becoming an expeditionary force, capable of projecting power abroad, through conventional military operations or via proxies and unconventional warfare. There are at least around 150,000 IRGC Ground Force troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmoud Ahmadinejad</span> 6th President of Iran from 2005 to 2013

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an Iranian principlist and nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. He was known for his hardline views and nuclearisation of Iran. He was also the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country, and served as mayor of Tehran from 2003 to 2005, reversing many of his predecessor's reforms.

Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests against alleged electoral fraud and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in Tehran and other major cities in Iran and around the world starting after the disputed presidential election on 2009 June 12 and continued even after the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as President of Iran on 5 August 2009. This is a timeline of the events which occurred during those protests.

The 2011–2012 protests in Iran were a series of demonstrations in Iran which began on 14 February 2011, called "The Day of Rage". The protests followed the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests and were influenced by other concurrent protests in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Reza Naqdi</span> Commander of Basij paramilitary force of Islamic Republic of Iran

Mohammad Reza Naqdi is an Iranian military officer who is a senior officer in the IRGC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nader Talebzadeh</span> Iranian film director and film producer (died 2022)

Nader Talebzadeh, also known as Nader Ordoubadi, was an Iranian conservative journalist and filmmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rostam Ghasemi</span> Iranian military officer and politician

Rostam Ghasemi was an Iranian military officer and conservative politician who was the Minister of Roads and Urban Development from 25 August 2021 to 22 November 2022. He was Minister of Petroleum from 3 August 2011 to 15 August 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehdi Khazali</span>

Mehdi Khazali is an Iranian publisher, physician, blogger and son of a leading right-wing cleric and former Counsel of Guardians member, Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali. He is also an Islamic scholar and the director of the Hayyan Cultural Institute in Tehran. Contrary to the legacy of his father - who is a strong supporter of Iranian President Ahmedinejad - he opposes the excessive mixing of religion and government and believes it can be harmful in modern society. He is one of the strongest critics of the government in Iran. He was a presidential candidate at the 2017 election, but was disqualified by the Guardian Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sattar Beheshti</span> Iranian blogger who died in custody of the Iranian Cyber Police unit

Seyyed Sattar Beheshti was an Iranian blogger who died under suspicious and unclear circumstances in early November 2012, several days after being arrested by the Iranian Cyber Police unit for criticizing the government of the Islamic Republic on Facebook, and after making a signed complaint of being tortured while in custody. His reported death has drawn international condemnation and led to the dismissal of the commander of Iran's cybercrimes police unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iranian Cyber Police</span> Unit of the Islamic Republic of Iran police

The Iranian Cyber Police is a unit of the Islamic Republic of Iran Police, founded in January 2011. In December 2012, the head of Tehran's cyber police unit was dismissed in relation to the death of Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti, who was being held in the cyber police's custody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasnim News Agency</span> Semi-official news organisation in Iran

Tasnim News Agency is a semi-official news agency in Iran associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Launched in 2012, its purpose is to cover a variety of political, social, economic and international subjects along with other fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division</span> Former division of the Iranian IRGC

27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division was a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces based in Tehran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Tehran attacks</span> Series or terrorist attacks in Tehran, Iran

The 2017 Tehran attacks were a series of two simultaneous terrorist attacks that occurred on 7 June 2017 that were carried out by five terrorists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, Iran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded. The shootings were the first terrorist attacks in Tehran in more than a decade, and the first major terror attack in the country since the 2010 Zahedan bombings.

References

  1. ↑ Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion, 4th ed. Sage Publications, p. 7
  2. ↑ Rhoads, Christopher (22 June 2009). "Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-11-26. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  3. 1 2 "Intel Chief: No Link Between $3Bil and Mashaei; IRGC 'Reporter' Training". PBS . Archived from the original on 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  4. ↑ Ken Blackwell. "UN Must Extend Mandates of Special Rapporteur on Iran". Patriot Post.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ Abrahamian, Ervand (16 June 2008). Tortured confessions : prisons and public recantations in modern Iran ([Nachdr.] ed.). Berkeley, Calif. [u.a.]: Univ. of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-21866-6.
  6. ↑ "Editorials on Voice of America". Voa. Archived from the original on 2022-09-14. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  7. ↑ Aryan, Hossein (5 February 2009). "Pillar Of The State". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  8. ↑ "خبرگزاری فارس - سازماندهی 21 هزار خبرنگار افتخاری در بسیج". 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 19 October 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  9. ↑ Morozov, Evgeny (30 March 2009). "Propaganda.com". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
  10. ↑ Erdbrink, Thomas (29 October 2011). "Iran Cyber Police Cite U.S. Threat". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
  11. ↑ Moaveni, Azadeh (22 June 2009). "State Television Becomes a Focus for Iranian Anger". Time. Archived from the original on June 24, 2009.
  12. ↑ Taheri, Amir (June 8, 2010). "Propaganda War Latest: Tehran 3 Israel 0". The Times (London) (Newspaper).
  13. ↑ "Iran's Propaganda Purveyors". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  14. ↑ BBC (25 September 2007). "Iran president in NY campus row" (Web Page). BBC. Archived from the original on 2011-02-08. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  15. ↑ Bonifield, Alexandra (October 1, 2007). "Ahmadinejad visit, speech part of propaganda machine". USA Today.
  16. ↑ "Fars News Agency :: Tehran Anti-Terror Conference Ends Work with Final Statement". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  17. ↑ "Editorials on Voice of America". Archived from the original on 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  18. 1 2 "Group calls on UN to distance itself from controversial Iran conference - UN Watch". UN Watch. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  19. ↑ Voice of America. "Iranian Government Holds Terrorism Conference". Voice of America. Archived from the original on September 15, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  20. ↑ Jailed Blogger Not Tortured Before Death, Iran Says Archived 2017-04-23 at the Wayback Machine | By THOMAS ERDBRINK |November 12, 2012
  21. ↑ Wan, William (29 October 2011). "Iran cyber police cite U.S. threat". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  22. ↑ Erdbrink, Thomas (October 29, 2011). "Iran cyber police cite U.S. threat". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  23. ↑ Head of Tehran’s Cybercrimes Unit Is Fired Over Death of Blogger Archived 2019-07-13 at the Wayback Machine | By THOMAS ERDBRINK| nytimes.com| 1 December 2012
  24. ↑ Bright, Jonathan; Au, Hubert; Bailey, Hannah; Elswah, Mona; Schliebs, Marcel; Marchal, Nahema; Schwieter, Christian; Rebello, Katarina; Howard, Philip N (2020). "Coronavirus Coverage by State-Backed English-Language News Sources" (PDF). Data Memo 2020.2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2020-11-15.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ↑ Rebello, Katarina; Schwieter, Christian; Schliebs, Marcel; Joynes-Burgess, Kate; Elswah, Mona; Bright, Jonathan; Howard, Philip N (2020). "Covid-19 News and Information from State-Backed Outlets Targeting French, German and Spanish-Speaking Social Media Users" (PDF). Project on Computational Propaganda, Oxford, UK, Data Memo. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  26. ↑ "US has to shut down biowarfare labs to save the world from pandemics". Reuters. 23 June 2021. Archived from the original on 22 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  27. ↑ "Techcrunch". 2018-08-27. Archived from the original on 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  28. ↑ Twitter (October 2018). "Enabling further research of information operations on Twitter". Archived from the original on 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-10-29.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  29. 1 2 3 Elswah, Mona; Howard, Philip N.; Narayanan, Vidya (2019). "Iranian Digital Interference in the Arab World". Project on Computational Propaganda. Archived from the original on 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  30. ↑ Farrell, Michael (14 November 2009). "What's known about Iran-linked Alavi Foundation?". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  31. ↑ Glovin, David (30 December 2009). "Alavi Foundation Is Iran Front, U.S. Says in Lawsuit (Correct)". Bloomberg News. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
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