After Iran Influence Report, Trust In Biden Admin ‘Crumbling’

Jason Schmidt, the district attorney overseeing the case, told Iran International that a “very important hearing” has been completed in favor of the prosecutor.

The defense wanted to “suppress certain statements that Mr. Matar made at the time that he was taken into custody by police,” said Schmidt. But the judge upheld the statements that the prosecutor wanted to “keep and introduce as evidence during the trial”.

Matar, 25, stabbed Rushdie in the neck and torso at a literary event in upstate New York last August. The renowned author had an Iranian bounty on his head since 1989, when he published his novel Satanic Verses, enraging many Muslims across the world. They deemed the book as insulting to the Prophet Mohammed.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader at the time issued a religious edict that obliged Muslims to kill Rushdi, effectively forcing him to go into hiding. He had just begun relaxing his security measures when the attack happened.

“Matar had traveled from New Jersey,” Schmidt said, “so we do believe this is an attack that was pre-planned.”

Early police investigation suggested that Matar was sympathetic to Iran’s Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards. On his Facebook, he had photos of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC general killed in a US drone strike in 2020.

At the time, Vice quoted European and Middle Eastern intelligence sources who said Matar had been in contact with some elements within the IRGC. The Islamic Republic officials have denied direct involvement but expressed support for the attack.

It’s been suggested also that Matar could have been influenced by the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group during his time in Lebanon.

Commenting on potential links between Matar, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the regime in Iran, district attorney Schmidt said, “there is a concurrent federal investigation… they may be looking at something on an international or national scale… that investigation could go beyond Matar and to third persons or even the Iranian government.”

The officials in Tehran wasted no time in celebrating the attack and extending congratulations to the attacker. It was also announced that he would be given 1,000 square meters of fertile farmland in Iran.

Mohammad Ismail Zarei who heads the organization that was established to implement the original edict and kill Salman Rushdie thanked Matar “for his brave action in carrying out the historic fatwa of Imam Khomeini.”

Matar did not deny his feelings either.

Shortly after his arrest, Matar gave a video interview to the New York Post, in which he praised Khomeini and condemned Rushdie as “someone who attacked Islam. ”But he hasn’t revealed much beyond this.

Schmidt explained: “when the attack occurred and Mr. Matar was taken into custody, there were some efforts to interview him to develop as much information as possible surrounding the attack. But that interview was cut short when Mr. Matar asserted his right to counsel.”

Matar is charged in the State of New York with attempted murder of second degree and assault of second degree (related to injuries sustained by another man present at the scene).

If found guilty, he could face up to 25 years in prison.

During a press briefing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was asked about the joint report by Iran International and Semafor revealing that several individuals closely connected to President Joe Biden's former Iran special envoy, Robert Malley, were part of an influence network established by Iran's foreign ministry. 

Kanaani dodged a direct answer but attempted to portray the issue as part of domestic US politics, saying, "We do not wish to comment on issues that are raised in the competition between political parties in the United States, and we leave these matters to the internal parties in the United States."

He claimed that the revelation is playing an “Iran card” in the domestic politics of the US,” without further explanation. It took a week for Iran’s foreign ministry to come up with this response. However, the investigative report did not involve US domestic politics and was about its foreign policy issues, directly relating to Iran.

Media in Iran have also started to analyze the repercussions of the compromised network of the Islamic Republic’s “Soft War” which has revealed deep holes in the regime's so-called watertight secrecy. 

Faraz Daily, an online pro-reform newspaper based, raised a series of questions, such as who leaked the correspondence between the Iran analysts and Iran’s Foreign Ministry officials. Iran International’s Bozorgmehr Sharafedin combed through thousands of emails from Iranian diplomats to reveal the Islamic Republic's network of academics and journalists under the aegis of the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), established by the Iranian foreign ministry in 2014.

The IEI members simultaneously worked for top Western think tanks and gave advice to the US and Europe. At least three individuals, namely Ariane Tabatabai, Ali Vaez, and Dina Esfandiari, were, or later became, key aides to Robert Malley, who was placed on leave this June following the suspension of his security clearance.

Out of the individuals exposed in the report, only one, Ariane Tabatabai, is still a US government employee. She holds the position of Chief of Staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, a high-ranking role with access to top-secret information. Dozens of US senators have demanded her security clearance be revoked.

Faraz Daily also claimed that the revelation was also welcomed by Iranian hardliners who seek to tarnish the efforts by [former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif, a figure in Iran’s political sphere known as an advocate of diplomacy with the US. “They (hardliners) have always been pursuing the elimination of Zarif and diminishing his influence,” the outlet stated.

Faraz Daily also highlighted the timing of the report that came out amid rumors of negotiations between Iran and the United States, implying that it was aimed at stifling the efforts of diplomatic ties between the two. Sharafedin, the writer of the investigative report, has said in several interviews that the data was available to them for months but the fact-checking process delayed the publication of the report. 

Conservative online magazine Tablet published an article Monday titled “High-Level Iranian Spy Ring Busted in Washington,” opening with how the Biden administration’s now-suspended Iran envoy “helped to fund, support, and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States and allied governments.” 

Even at home, Iranian reformist newspaper Ham-Mihan described the report as an effort to smother secret Iran-US talks and tried to whitewash the analysts exposed in the report as well as all other Iranian-American individuals who are trying to promote relations between the US and the Islamic Republic. The daily cited several pundits to justify that “lobbying” for Iran is different from “infiltration.” 

Quoting Jahanbakhsh Izadi, a university professor in Iran, Ham-Mihan said, "Direct negotiations between Iran and the United States have always existed since the beginning of the Islamic Republic, but this issue has often been hidden.” 

Another pundit, Mehdi Zakerian, said that if a country seeks to exert influence in another country and impact its policymaking to secure greater gains using influential individuals, “we no longer call this infiltration, we refer to it as lobbying," which he said could be done by figures "from athletes, artists, and journalists to university professors and researchers". 

Izadi underlined that "Lobbying is a widely accepted principle in international politics... and is considered legal in many countries, including the United States." He apparently ignored the fact that to be a lobbyist in the US, one must be registered as one and have a contract for it, not like the analysts exposed in the report who claimed neutrality and independence. 

London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat said in an article Sunday that the report provided details and evidence for an “open secret” that “the Iranian lobby is real and has been operating in Washington since the Obama years.” 

“The experts were the liaison between the US and Iran when the nuclear negotiations kicked off. Their role was to bolster Iran’s image and drown out critical voices in Washington,” read the article, adding: “The question now is, has the network succeeded? Has the IEI succeeded in deceiving American and European officials? I believe the Democrats, especially those affiliated to Obama, wanted to be deceived.” 

Iran International continues to be stonewalled, declined comments from key figures and institutions in the unraveling web including Iran’s Foreign Ministry, its in-house think tank, the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), and former foreign minister Javad Zarif who was the mastermind of the network. Others approached include Mostafa Zahrani, a former director general of strategic affairs in the foreign ministry and an advisor to Zarif, and Saeed Khatibzadeh, a diplomat and an IPIS member.

Narges Eskandari-Grunberg, an Iranian-German city councilor in Frankfurt, conveyed to Iran International correspondent Ahmad Samadi in Berlin, according to the organizer’s decision, the Islamic Republic is not allowed to take part in this book fair.

The exclusion of the Islamic Republic from the fair is attributed to several factors, including the ongoing suppression of the Iranian population, especially women, the detention of journalists, writers, and artists, the forced closure of publishing houses and bookstores for admitting women without compulsory hijab, as well as continued denial of access to and censorship of the internet. 

Eskandari-Grunberg emphasized that, due to the actions taken against the people of Iran, the Islamic Republic will not have a presence at this year's fair either. She added, "Last year, instead of the Islamic Republic setting up booths, several panels were organized to discuss women's rights and human rights in Iran, and this year, these panels will once again take place."

Last year, the Islamic Republic was barred from attending the fair due to its harsh response to nationwide protests in Iran, internet censorship, and the detention of journalists. More than 500 people were killed by the security forces in the five-month-long protests that started in September 2022, thousands injured and 22,000 arrested.

The seventy-fifth annual Frankfurt International Book Fair is scheduled to take place from October 18th to October 22nd, 2023.

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council threatened that any shifts in the region's geopolitical landscape would result in “heightened insecurity and the exacerbation of existing crises.”

Ali Akbar Ahmadian made the remarks during a meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Armen Gregorian, in Tehran on Sunday.

Since Armenia's defeat in the 2020 war on Azerbaijani soil, it has become vulnerable to potential incursions from its more powerful neighbor. In this scenario, Iran would lose a secure land corridor to the north, which connects it to Russia through Georgia. Tehran has repeatedly revealed its concerns and has warned that it would not tolerate such actions by Azerbaijan. It has also bolstered its military presence on the border to underscore this stance.

The conflict carries the potential to reshape the geopolitical dynamics of the South Caucasus region, which is intersected by vital oil and gas pipelines. Iran has previously cautioned against altering the political landscape in the Caucasus and adjusting international borders.

Tehran has stated that if either side attempts to modify the geopolitical balance in the Caucasus or the international borders, it will abandon its neutral position and respond directly. However, Tehran did not intervene this month when Azerbaijan attacked Karabakh, the Armenian autonomous enclave within its territory and forced more than 100,000 people to flee.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told Didban Iran [Iran Monitor] website in Tehran that the country is facing a serious challenge as one of its gateways to Europe is threatened because of the military development in the Caucasus. 

Falahatpisheh also pointed out that Iranian officials and military commanders who used to deliver passionate speeches about Iran's interests and authority in the region are silent in the face of threats to Tehran's interest. 

During the past months, several Iranian military commanders and politicians warned Azerbaijan not to attack Armenia and avoid closing Iran's gateway to Europe at its borders with Armenia. As Azerbaijan expelled 120,000 Armenians from the enclave, it now threatens to enter and occupy the narrow strip of land connecting Iran via Armenia to Russia and Europe.

Iran has also long warned Azerbaijan about its close military relations with Israel, which is the Baku’s main arms supplier.

Mashregh News, a media outlet with close links to Iranian security and intelligence organizations on September 9, called an attack on Karabakh Iran's "red line" and maintained that such an action will entail consequences for Azerbaijan. The threat later proved to be hollow. 

Iran's silence in the face of the development is apparently linked to a visit to Iran by Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu immediately before the attack. Meanwhile, Tehran's inaction was quite embarrassing for the regime and its military commanders considering months of bragging on IRGC media outlets and social media channels about Iran's swift reaction in case Azerbaijan attacked Karabakh. 

Some Iranian social media users ridiculed the Iranian military and posted a photo of a smiling Iranian military attache' walking alongside victorious Azeri officers in Karabakh following the attack. One user wrote: "I wrongly thought that the Iranian regime's officials were trying to be strategically patient in the face of Azerbaijan's alliance with Israel."

Falahatpisheh told Didban Iran that "All this is an outcome of Iran's outdated foreign policy. At times we saw Iranian officials delivering irresponsible speeches at the borders with Azerbaijan. If what is happening now is Iran's real policy, those speakers should be accountable for agitating the society at the expense of Iran's national interests." 

The former lawmaker said that the forced displacement of ethnic Armenians in Karabakh is not the end of the conflict. On the contrary, it marks the beginning of a new crisis in the region. Tens of thousands of Armenians have been displaced and their private and public rights poses a new challenge for the region's leaders. This is likely to turn into a chronic challenge not only for Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also for other players such as Turkey and Israel. Particularly because Iran will perceive Israel's presence at its borders as a true challenge. 

He said: "Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan's stance during the conflict were more realistic that the other leaders involved. At least he acknowledged that Iranians are not going to like the closure of one of their key gateways to Europe and the outside world. 

Meanwhile, Erdogan’s call for a meeting between the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia to discuss the aftermaths and implications of the attack on Karabakh, without mentioning Iran. 

Falahatpisheh pointed out that Iran's policy about the region dated back to three decades ago and Tehran was oblivious to the developments and dynamics that have been taking shape during the past thirty years in the region. 

He argued that as a result of the current conflict, Azerbaijan will have to allocate a major part of its annual budget to military spending. He added that by inviting countries from beyond the region into this conflict, Azerbaijan has made a mistake. It could have solved its problems with Armenia in a different way.