Though its capabilities remain more limited than those of Russia or China, Iran is becoming a significant authoritarian actor challenging democracy in the United States and Europe. Through information manipulation, malign finance, and cyberattacks, Tehran seeks to weaken the United States and like-minded democracies to undermine their efforts at democratization beyond their borders. Find ASD’s work on Iran on this page.
Ariane Tabatabai on Iran’s Push of False Coronavirus, Protest Info in Effort to Lift Sanctions on Newsy
Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai spoke to Newsy about how Iran is using its social media presence to spread messages about the U.S.' handling of the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice protests. For years, Iran has been ramping up its online [...]
Ariane Tabatabai on How Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Play Politics With the Coronavirus in Foreign Affairs
Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai argues in Foreign Affairs that the IRGC is using traditional and social media to assert its leadership and project itself as the guardian of public health and the champion of the fight against the invisible enemy [...]
Ariane Tabatabai on Iran’s Attempt to Use the U.S. as a Scapegoat During the Coronavirus Pandemic in Vox
Iran is ramping up its fight against the United States. "Despite the crippling toll of the pandemic," Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai and Colin P. Clarke write in Vox, "Tehran has continued to work tirelessly to eject the last remaining US force [...]
Ariane Tabatai Discusses the Humanitarian Collateral Effects of Sanctions on Iran During the Coronavirus with Atlantic Council
At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian officials were playing it down. They were dealing in conspiracy theories and disinformation and blamed the United States for spreading the virus, Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai explained on [...]
Ariane Tabatabai Discusses Coronavirus in Iran on ‘Babel’
The spread of the coronavirus has exacerbated tensions within the governmental system and between the system and the population, Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai said on CSIS's podcast "Babel." Iranian state-backed media has been pushing the narr [...]
Competing Information Operations Target Americans in the Wake of Soleimani’s Killing
As has become the norm in moments of international crisis, the fallout from the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani last month unleashed a flood of disinformation onto social media. In crisis environments, where unconfirmed facts of even benign or [...]
Hamilton 2.0 Methodology & FAQs
How to Interpret Hamilton 2.0 Hamilton 2.0 displays outputs from sources that we can directly attribute to the Russian, Chinese, or Iranian governments or their various news and information channels. These channels and accounts often engage with t [...]
Iran’s Newest Info Op Shows an Evolution of Tactics
On October 26, Facebook announced that it removed “82 Pages, Groups, and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior” originating from Iran. The information operation targeted citizens of the United States and United Kingdom, often by creating fic [...]