Project Influence: What is Khamenei afraid of?

Right after the Iran nuclear deal, Sayyid Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, began talking about "the enemies' project of influence and infiltration", and the necessity of fighting against such an attack.

In the past couple of months, he has repeatedly warned Iranians of imperialistic influence on the country.

"Negotiation with the US means influence," he said.

"This is their definition of negotiation. They want to open the door for imposition. Today the huge propaganda machines are in the hands of Americans."

Spinning an old tale

Khamenei is more worried about the cultural and intellectual influence of the West as opposed to its economic impact or security sways.

Although the context of these latest statements is the nuclear negotiations and their consequences, they are not new. In the past three decades, Khamenei has always warned the security, military, religious and media establishments in Iran against Western influence, with different names such as "cultural invasion", "cultural raid", "cultural NATO", "colourful revolution", "soft revolution", and "sedition".

Based on security projects defined immediately after Khamenei's lambasting of the West's cultural influence, dozens of writers and politicians were assassinated in the 1990s, and hundreds of journalists, political and social media activists, artists, and human rights lawyers were prosecuted and imprisoned. 

More important than name-calling are the security projects shaped by his rhetoric. Khameni himself started this new project by targeting some groups who did not agree with his enmity towards the West.

"Some people insist on decorating this Great Satan and presenting it as an angel," he said. Immediately after this statement, Project Influence was launched by the Revolutionary Guards.   

Westerners are savage races. Their appearance is nice, they wear ties and perfumes but their historical savage nature still exists - Sayyid Ali Khamenei

Khamenei believes that all Western people are savages.

"Westerners, especially European races, are savage races. Their appearance is nice, they wear ties and perfumes but their historical savage nature still exists."

Therefore, all Iranians who communicate with them should be regarded with suspicion.

Who are the targets?

Four groups have been the targets of this new project.

1. Social media activists: dozens have been arrested in Qazvin and Shahreza;
2. Business operators who have dual citizenship, such as Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American, and Nazar Zaka, a Lebanese-American;
3. Media workers: Many are currently under arrest and dozens more are frequently summoned to intelligence offices. Ehsan Mazanderani, Saman Safarzai, Afarin Ceetsaz, Jason Rezaian, Hadi Haidari, and Isa Saharkhiz are still in prison. The Revolutionary Guard has accused them of working for "the enemy".  
4. Political activists: Koroush Zaim, a high ranking member of the Iranian National Front, has been summoned and questioned, for example.

Fabricated support

To show off support for Khamenei and his project, other bodies of government weighed in.

A group of 12 MPs warned the Ministry of Islamic Guidance that it should deal with infiltration by foreign agents in Iran's media; a letter which claimed to be signed by 12,000 faculty members warned the heads of all three branches of government of "enemy influence"; anti-Rouhani media outlets sanctioned the press circus protesting against the administration's "loose" media policy; slogans and banners advertising "the day for anti-imperialist fight" smeared people who were supposedly the channels of Western influence.

All of this was based on a scenario written by the security establishment. The plot of this project was even published in their loyal media outlets.

What is 'influence'? 

As it became clear from the arrests and prosecutions, when Khamenei talks about "influence", he means any cultural, scientific, media or trade relationships between Iranian individuals and groups and Western countries which are not totally controlled by the state.

Khamenei is not able to close the borders, North Korea-style, but he has been able to restrict faculty members from presenting to scientific conferences, artists from participating in international festivals, business leaders from engaging in international fairs, analysts from communicating with international think tanks, and political and social activists from working with international NGOs and civil society institutions.

In this conflict, ideological, political, and economic interests are intertwined

He has also been able to restrict the free flow of information between Iran and other nations using high-tech, complex filtering, jamming and plain censorship.  

The fight is about…

The underlying conflict of this project has four layers: the political fight between the Rouhani administration and the Revolutionary Guard commanders, the perpetual oppression of the democracy-oriented opposition, the power struggle between Khamenei and Rouhani, and the fight for more economic resources and rents between military and security establishment figures and technocrats loyal to the administration.

Labels such as spy, infiltrator, operative, agent, and informer are used by each side to decrease the power and leverage of the other.

In this conflict, ideological, political, and economic interests are intertwined. Religious bureaucrats preach the ideological divide between Shia and the West, while receiving billions of dollars every year to promote Khamenei's religious authority.

The Revolutionary Guard is focused on security challenges, while its generals and commanders are receiving multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts. Political factions repeat anti-American rhetoric to stay in the rent-receiving list of the government.

All this, while ordinary Iranian people have no ball in the game.

Majid Mohammadi is an Iranian-born academic and the author of several books in Persian and English on politics, arts and religion in Iran.

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of al-Araby al-Jadeed, its editorial board or staff.