By Col. Wes Martin
Many seemingly important news reports that gained
attention in 2016 turned out to be marred with falsified information.
A
major threat to the dissemination of true information to U.S. citizens lies in
the existence of suspicious figures sent by foreign countries for the purposes
of espionage and influence over U.S. foreign policy.
Iran
is a prime example. Its golden age of insider influence has passed with the
inauguration of President Trump. The Tehran loyalists no longer have
established access to the U. S. State Department and the National Security
Council.
But
this does not mean Iran’s network of spies and agents in the U.S. are going to
stop spreading misinformation. It simply means the primary means of influence
has been relegated back to mainstream and social media.
Left
unchecked, it still remains a serious problem that cannot be underestimated and
deserves due attention. As someone who had to deal with the threat of terrorism
firsthand, I appreciate the significance of such due vigilance.
A
prime example of Iranian infiltration comes in the form of Masoud
Khodabandeh. He introduces himself as the “director of Middle East
Strategy Consultants.” As such, he published nine Huffington Post
articles in 2016.
Seven
of those pieces were focused on spreading fake news and demonizing the main
Iranian opposition, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran/Mojahedin-e
Khalq (PMOI/MEK).
The
MEK believes regime change is needed in Iran as Tehran remains the main source
of Islamic fundamentalism and is the number one state sponsor of international
terrorism.
It
is committed to establishing a democratic government in Iran based on the
separation of church and state. As such, the extremist government in Tehran has
good cause to be concerned about the MEK.
A
report commissioned by the Pentagon and released by the Library of Congress
provides an alarming look into the operations of Iran’s Ministry of
Intelligence Services (MOIS) right here in the United States.
“MOIS
recruited former members of the (People’s Mujahedin of Iran) in Europe and used
them to launch a disinformation campaign against (PMOI),” the report reads.
Among
those named in the Pentagon report are Massoud Khodabandeh and his British
wife, Anne. They were recruited by the MOIS in the mid-1990s and used as assets
against the opposition before launching the ‘Iran-Interlink’ website explicitly
under Tehran’s orders.
The
MOIS resorts to character assassination against lawmakers and reporters who
hold positive views of the Iranian opposition, aiming to silence their voices.
The
Iranian intelligence service also seeks to employ such individuals to influence
U.S. and European foreign policy in the hopes of allowing the Iranian regime to
remain intact.
Iran’s
MOIS has recently attempted to demonize and silence a British politician
through the efforts of Khodabandeh’s wife.
The
co-author of many of Masoud Khodabandeh’s articles in The
Singleton,
however, failed to provide any evidence for her allegations.
Lord
Alton, a lifelong advocate of human rights in the British Parliament, is a
professor at Liverpool’s John Moore’s University. He has received many honors.
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| Lord Alton, a lifelong advocate of human rights in the British Parliament |
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