Members of the Stability Front Warn About 'Infiltration of Western Spies into Media'

Twelve representatives from the 'Stability Front' in the Islamic Consultative Assembly have warned the ministers of Culture and Information to address the 'infiltration of several hundred Western spies' into newspapers and media. This warning, published by the Fars News Agency, was directed at Mahmoud Alavi and Ali Jannati, the ministers of Information and Culture in Hassan Rouhani's government. It states that 'a destructive gang of several hundred media members linked to Western intelligence services' is connected with countries such as Norway, the Netherlands, and the UK, and that 'their communication bridge abroad includes figures from the 2009 unrest and those who have fled to Western countries.' These twelve representatives, who oppose Rouhani's government and were former supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claim that British and Western intelligence services guide this group in 'chain newspapers and cyberspace media,' imposing and operationalizing their positions. They, as 'representatives of the nation from the powerful Ministry of Information,' demand immediate action against this group and that their cases be sent to the judiciary. The signatories include Ahmad Salek, Morteza Aghatehrani, Morteza Hosseini, Mehdi Koochakzadeh, Mahmoud Nabavian, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, Javad Karimi Qodousi, Nasrollah Pezeshkianfar, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, Bahram Birarvand, Hossein Zolnoavar, and Bijan Nobaveh. This demand for action against reformist newspapers and cyberspace media comes as the dates for the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections on March 1 approach. Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture, who has received two yellow cards in parliament, recently stated on September 20 that 'I am neither influenced by media pressure nor by the statements of parliament members; we think, investigate, and act based on legal frameworks and relevant regulations.' Two months prior, he had also mentioned that some 'bulletin-makers' affiliated with certain institutions consider themselves valuable and are working against his ministry, but this ministry stands against them. The warning from the twelve representatives of the Stability Front to the ministers of Information and Culture was also published shortly after Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks to the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. On September 25, Khamenei accused 'foreigners' of trying to realize their goals after his leadership and of 'infiltrating decision-making centers, and if that fails, infiltrating decision-making centers' of the system, urging the IRGC commanders and the country's 'elites' to strengthen the 'foundations of revolutionary thought and spirit' so that nothing disrupts this path after him. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, also stated on the same day that the goal of Europeans, in coordination with the US, from their 'extensive presence and emergence' in Iran is to 'create a bipolarity within society,' 'raise demands in public opinion,' and 'erase the discussion of the long-standing conflict between the US and the West with Iran.'