The top U.S. intelligence official on Tuesday accused Iran, a supporter of the Palestinian Hamas, of encouraging protests in the United States against Israel’s war in Gaza, going so far as to pay demonstrators.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, followed by a retaliatory Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held across the United States, including some tense ones on university campuses.
“Over the past several weeks, actors linked to the Iranian government have acted to take advantage of the ongoing protests over the war in Gaza,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who oversees several agencies including the CIA, said in a statement.
“We have observed actors linked to the Iranian government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests and even providing financial support to protesters,” she added.
“Iran seeks to undermine confidence in our institutions”
This does not deny the sincerity and good faith of the Americans who are protesting, Avril Haines was keen to clarify. “The freedom to express diverse points of view, when expressed without violence, is central to our democracy, but it is important to alert people to foreign actors who exploit our debates for their own purposes,” she wrote.
“Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in its influence efforts abroad, seeking to foster conflict and undermine trust in our democratic institutions,” the top U.S. intelligence official said. The statement said her office would “regularly” release information on attempts at political manipulation by foreign actors this election year.