For Iran, disinformation comes just behind assassination
Until recently, Iran has been the distant third among disinformation superpowers, with Russia and China ahead in spreading false claims attacking the U.S. and sowing divisions in the country. With the election of Donald Trump, Tehran has accelerated its efforts, putting disinformation just behind assassination as a malign state strategy.
Consider how the mullahs responded on Nov. 6, the day after Trump was elected: They used social media to reissue their threat to kill Trump and launched a disinformation campaign falsely claiming that Trump views Iran as “a powerful country.”
Hours after Trump was declared the victor, the social media account on Telegram used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps posted a video showing Trump in a sniper’s crosshairs, ending with the crack of a gunshot and Trump spitting up blood.
The video voiceover is a speech from 2018 by the terrorist mastermind who ran that paramilitary organization's Quds-Force, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by U.S. forces in 2020 on Trump’s orders. The audio says, “Oh Mr. Trump, the gambler! I tell you that the Quds Force is your opponent!” The video ends with the warning that “unfinished work will be finished soon!”
The Iranian death threat seems real. Days after the election, the Department of Justice filed criminal complaints against........
© The Hill
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