I am not buying that. Iran has a lot of ability to suppress dissent still.
We'll certainly see.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam is famous for infiltrating the Iranian regime for a decade, gaining the personal confidence of Iranian officials, up until 2021.
One of her points was that Western media has been complicit with the Islamic Republic's effort to project a more powerful image than the 'thread' they have had, for awhile. She calls out BBC Persian in particular.
In addition to her work for the U.N. Security Council and being a research fellow at two think tanks (American Centre for Levant Studies and the
Henry Jackson Society), I wasn't aware of her connections inside Iran when I made the post. Sources below.
"For a time, she worked as a media advisor for some official Iranian institutions and took part in religious gatherings." She "even published articles on the official website of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei." These articles were deleted after she
wrote for
The Times of Israel in 2021 about her exploits and condemned the regime.
Her 'defection' made headlines in Iranian media, when "presidential candidate Mostafa Kavakebian accused her of infiltrating the country’s sensitive institutions by engaging in sexual relationships with 120 high-ranking officials."
Iran's state broadcaster called the accusations "obscene" and sued Kavakebian. But Iranian security expert Fouad Sadeghi interprets this as only incriminating:
“The first instinct of Iranian intelligence agencies when faced with infiltration,” he said, “is to deny it ever happened and bury the issue” “It’s clear that Shakdam is a Mossad agent, and the Mossad itself organized her interview with BBC Persian,”
But Shakdam told BBC Persian
60 Minutes, “I didn’t chase anyone—they chased me,” she said. “I never tried to sneak into Iranian media or gain access to power. They asked me to write analyses and do interviews.”
“The only thing that really irks them is that they woke up to the fact that I’m Jewish after they let me into the circle, now that they realize that I’m the enemy — or what they perceive as the enemy,” she said. (
The Times of Israel)
“
I was really in the club. I was on television all the time. I think I’ve written for every media outlet they have, and I met quite a few people,” Perez-Shakdam said with a chuckle during her Zoom interview with The Times of Israel. “To have a Jew be featured on Press TV — the mouthpiece of the regime — bothers them.”
Catherine Shakdam made headlines across Iranian media after former reformist presidential candidate Mostafa Kavakebian accused her of infiltrating the country’s sensitive institutions by engaging in sexual relationships with 120 high-ranking officials.
www.alestiklal.net
Catherine Perez-Shakdam ignites a media firestorm in Iran after publishing a ToI blog post; she appeared in Iranian state media for years before reconnecting with her Jewish roots
www.timesofisrael.com