CIA Releases Plea to Potential Informants in Iran
The two-minute video, published Tuesday across X, Instagram, and YouTube, delivers technical tradecraft advice in Farsi — instructing would-be sources to use virtual private networks (VPNs) and Tor networks while steering clear of workplace devices and office telephone lines.
"The Central Intelligence Agency can hear your voice and wants to help you," the agency said in the Farsi-language message.
The outreach arrives as the US dramatically expands its military footprint across the Middle East, having deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups alongside additional air power in recent weeks. President Donald Trump has kept up a drumbeat of pressure on Tehran, warning Monday that Iran would face a "very bad day" unless it accepts his terms on a nuclear agreement.
Indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran, facilitated by Oman, are set to reconvene in Geneva on Thursday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has described a nuclear deal as "within reach," yet firmly declared Tehran's missile program a "red line" and "strictly non-negotiable." Iran insists its entire nuclear program is civilian in nature.
A Familiar Playbook — With Pushback
The Farsi-language video is far from the CIA's first foray into foreign-language recruitment drives. The agency has previously rolled out similar appeals in Mandarin, Korean, and Russian — each drawing sharp reactions from the targeted governments.
Beijing condemned the Chinese-language videos when they surfaced in May 2025 as a "political provocation," with China's Foreign Ministry pledging to "take all measures necessary to resolutely push back infiltration and sabotage activities from overseas."
Moscow's response carried a sharper edge. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) ridiculed the CIA's Russian-language campaign for leaning on "outdated Hollywood tropes" about everyday life in Russia — and fired back with its own counter-recruitment video aimed squarely at CIA officers. The footage invoked the spirit of US-Soviet wartime alliance during World War II, urging American intelligence personnel to cooperate on ending the conflict in Ukraine while portraying authorities in Kyiv as steeped in "Nazi influences and rampant corruption."
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