According to prevailing Western wisdom, Mahsa Amini was “murdered” in “police custody” after being savagely beaten in a police van. In reality, as quickly released CCTV footage showed the young Iranian-Kurdish woman collapsed after a conversation – involving no violence, with a female police officer inside the police station.  

She was then attended to and taken from the police station to a waiting ambulance. Photographs of her in the hospital show no apparent head injuries and later medical staff released CT scans showing no recent injuries, though confirming that she had brain surgery some years previously.

But the allegation that she was killed or murdered was the apparent spark used to whip up a frenzy of anti-government propaganda and reporting. Demonstrators have taken to the streets, in many Iranian cities, and protests in support have erupted in the UK and elsewhere. 

Who pushed the “riot” button?

But who pushed the “riot” button and why? 

The CIA and the US government are a one key actor. The US government was frustrated that its demands were not met in the Vienna negotiations on the so-called “nuclear deal” in late August, and also acted in response to the effective use of Iranian supplies of drones to help the Russians to defeat the NATO proxy war in Ukraine.

The US immediately activated its assets and agents to foment subversion. This involved direct attacks on the police and other security services – with eleven killed in the first ten days of protests, including four police/security officers - as well as extensive attacks on ambulances that appear to have been directed externally. On October 1, there was an armed terror attack on a police station in the city of Zahedan, there were 19 deaths including four IRGC officers; 32 IRGC members were also wounded. Are these the tactics of supporters of “women’s rights”?

Unsurprisingly both the National Endowment for Democracy - known as the “CIA-sidekick” - and the Open Society Foundations of George Soros advertise that they are active in relation to Iran.* Both engage in attempting to foment regime change in Iran as they do elsewhere. Soros, for example, stated in 2014 at the time of the US-directed Euromaidan coup that “I set up a foundation in Ukraine before Ukraine became independent of Russia. And the foundation has been functioning ever since. And it played a — an important part in events now.”

Geopolitical actors at work

In addition to the US, a range of geopolitical interests are lined up against Iran including US proxies. These include firstly far-right supporters of the former Shah of Iran who have paraded themselves in demonstrations around the world with their monarchist Iranian flag featuring a lion. A second group is the Mujahideedn e-Kalq (alternatively known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, and the National Council of Resistance of Iran). It was regarded as a terrorist organisation by the US until delisted after a successful lobbying effort in 2012. In April 2021, Facebook took action against the MEK troll farm based in Albania (a NATO member), but it still appears to be operational. 

Islamophobic attacks

Attacks on worshippers at a central London Mosque used by many Iranians (many not supporters of the Islamic Republic) by monarchist and MEK demonstrators highlighted the Islamophobic nature of the groups. Another Islamophobic group was also prominent in London demonstrations – the Council of Ex-Muslims - led by a bare-breasted Maryam Namazie. Namazie, formerly of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, is involved in a variety of Islamophobic groups in the UK such as the National Secular Society. Saudi Arabia has its own input via its troll farms and its own propaganda TV channel, Iran International, which has been pumping out lies about recent events.

The Zionist regime in action

However, the most important actor involved, apart from the US, is the Zionist regime. The official Twitter account of the regime openly states it “stands with” the protestors and launched a cynical “Remember Mahsa” campaign featuring Israeli settlers claiming to “stand in solidarity”. “Israel” funds key US lobby groups pushing for more sanctions on Iran including the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). FDD is a “leading neoconservative think tank”, which functions “as an agent of the Israeli government”, as was revealed in Al Jazeera’s investigation on the US-Israel lobby.

Another group, United Against Nuclear Iran, is stuffed with Zionists. Both groups are clearly assets of the so-called “state of Israel”.  

Meanwhile, "Israel" continues to directly support and utilise Kurdish separatist groups which are currently engaged in subversion and terrorism against Iran. So, we see that both the US and "Israel", via assets, agents, and proxies come together to push the “riot” button in Iran. 

The Obama playbook

For some insight on how the US thinks about such operations, one can listen to former US President Obama effectively laying out the US strategy for subversion in Iran. “You just have to flood a country’s public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of truth – The game is won”

Of course, Obama was formally talking (from 31.10) about Putin (and indeed Trump strategist Steve Bannon), but it’s clearly a close account of how they try to effect change.

Say her name: Masih Alinejad

Not coincidentally the self-proclaimed “leader” of the protests also lives in the US - in an FBI safe house in New York. But who is Masih Alinejad? On Twitter, she has more than half a million followers and more than 8 million on Instagram, but she describes herself on her profiles only as an “Iranian journalist and activist,” or as a “journalist”.

In reality, Alinejad works directly for a US government propaganda operation called Voice of America. At VoA she has presented a programme for the last seven years on VoA’s Persian service and according to public records has received over half a million dollars in government contracts since 2015.

In addition to these roles, Alinejad is the founder of two campaigns White Wednesdays which encourages the wearing of white headscarves, and My Stealthy Freedom. Both claim to be focused on the hijab and women’s rights in Iran. But Alinejad is not centrally concerned with reform in Iran but with increasing sanctions and promoting regime change. She has called for “death to the dictator”. When she appeared on CNN recently her remarks were not about the hijab but about pressuring the US not to make a nuclear deal with Iran and instead increase sanctions. “Stop negotiating with our murderers, cut off all ties with the Islamic Republic”, she demanded. 

Evidence from inside Iran suggests that, through her and others, the Obama playbook is guiding the “protests”. For example, listen to the testimony from a protestor arrested for petrol bombing an ambulance: “They were saying: Security forces use those ambulances. Since Masih Alinejad and other people were saying it so many times on the internet and other networks, I thought to myself it must be true”. 

Alinejad’s views suggest an alignment with extreme Zionist positions. Add to that her links with Key Zionist lobby groups in the US: In June this year, she received a so-called “moral courage” award from the extremist American Jewish Committee a group with a long record of Zionist advocacy.  

Alinejad was also booked to speak at the conference of United Against Nuclear Iran in September this year. UANI is a hardline US-based group which has had a former director of Mossad on its advisory board.  

Masih Alinejad is one of many vehicles for the US and "Israel" to undermine the Islamic Republic of Iran, not least because of its steadfast support for the Palestinian liberation movement and the axis of resistance more widely.

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 *Disclosure: David Miller has in the past received research funds from the Open Society Foundations for work critiquing Islamophobia and counter-extremism.