Incident I00056: Iran Influence Operations

Summary: Iranian interference in the politics of Arab countries has become more self-evident since the Arab Spring of 2011. Iran has been trying to widen its influence in the region in a political confrontation with Saudi Arabia. Factor long-held hostility to US (Iran as a member of the “Axis of Evil”) & Isreal; it’s funding of proxies (Hezbolla) and Shia militia’s in Iraq; and most recently having the Revolutionary Guard being designated a terror organization; the seeming collapse of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (nuclear programme) and expanding economic sanctions all add up to an increased likihood of Iran expanding their information operations. While there is history to Iran’s information/influence operations, starting with FireEye’s report about Iranian “fake news” websites, and subsequent reports by DFRLab (Jan 31, 2019 and March 26, 2019) we have strong document proof and assets that highlight Iran’s activities.
incident type: campaign
Year started: 2012
Countries: Iran , World
Found via:
Date added: 2019-03-20

Technique	Description given for this incident
T0007 Create Inauthentic Social Media Pages and Groups	IT00000171 Fake FB groups/pages/profiles + dark content (non-paid advertising)
T0022 Leverage Conspiracy Theory Narratives	IT00000174 Memes... anti-Isreal/USA/West, conspiracy narratives
T0046 Use Search Engine Optimization	IT00000172 SEO optimisation/manipulation ("key words")

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