Hybrid warfare aims to destabilize Iran internally, says senior IRGC official
A senior intelligence official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that foreign powers have shifted to a hybrid warfare strategy aimed at undermining the Islamic Republic across multiple sectors.
“The model of toppling the establishment has changed, but the objective is the same,” said Brigadier General Mehdi Sayyari, deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization. “Today, we are being targeted across social, cultural, economic, political, scientific, and security fields.”
Speaking at a public event in Mashhad, Sayyari said that foreign intelligence services are coordinating efforts to destabilize the country internally. “Military, security, and cyber operations are designed to generate unrest and instability. If they don’t succeed in this, none of these tools will have an impact,” he said.
Sayyari added that opponents have focused on weakening the role of religion in society, citing recent unrest over the issue of the hijab. “One of the dissidents abroad said hijab is an issue the Islamic Republic can neither fully implement nor abandon,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday dismissed recent satellite imagery reports about a suspected nuclear facility in Iran, linking them to efforts to undermine upcoming nuclear talks with the United States.
“Like clockwork, more Very Scary Satellite Images are being circulated as Iran-US indirect nuclear talks are set to resume,” Araghchi wrote on X, in an apparent reference to a Fox News report citing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Araghchi accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to influence US policy through proxies. “With his credibility in tatters and exposed as a saboteur, Netanyahu... is turning to both old and new sock puppets,” he wrote. “This time, he is using Saddam’s Iranian henchmen. They may come cheap, but hiring a literal cult only conveys utter desperation.”
The remarks came after Fox News reported, based on NCRI information and satellite images, that Iran has operated a secret tritium extraction facility for more than a decade. The NCRI said the Rainbow Site in Semnan Province is used for tritium extraction, which is “used to enhance nuclear weapons” and has “virtually no peaceful or commercial applications.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations on Thursday rejected a Fox News report on an alleged secret nuclear weapons facility in Semnan Province, calling it “fabricated” and accusing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) of spreading false information.
“This fabricated report follows the usual pattern of the NCRI terrorist group, which produces fake reports in the form of so-called intelligence and delivers them to Western services, including in the United States,” the Iranian mission said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.
“When these services realize the reports are baseless, the group then turns to Western media to amplify them,” it added.
Fox News earlier reported, based on satellite images and information from the NCRI, that the “Rainbow Site” has been operating for more than a decade under the cover of a chemical company and is used for tritium extraction — a process with “virtually no peaceful or commercial applications” and known to be “used to enhance nuclear weapons.”
Satellite images obtained by Fox News show what appears to be a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility in Semnan Province, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The site, known as the “Rainbow Site,” has reportedly been in operation for over a decade and covers nearly 2,500 acres. It has operated under the cover of a chemical company called Diba Energy Siba, the group said.
According to NCRI, the facility’s main purpose is the extraction of tritium, a radioactive isotope used to enhance nuclear weapons.
"Unlike uranium enrichment, tritium has virtually no peaceful or commercial applications, casting further doubt on Iran’s longstanding claims that its nuclear ambitions are solely for energy or civilian use," Fox News wrote.
New satellite images suggest a hidden Iranian nuclear site. Image: National Council of Resistance of Iran
US President Donald Trump held a private meeting on Thursday with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the meeting.
The meeting, which was not announced by either side, took place at the White House ahead of Trump’s trip to the Middle East starting Monday.
According to Axios, Trump and Dermer discussed Iran’s nuclear program and the war in Gaza. The outlet also reported that the next round of US-Iran nuclear talks will be held on Sunday in Muscat.
Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He will not stop in Israel during the trip.
The mere possibility that US President Donald Trump may rename the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf has outraged both supporters and opponents of the Islamic Republic.
Trump, speaking on Wednesday, said he had yet to decide on the matter and would announce his position during an upcoming trip to the Middle East. “I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings,” he added.
Reports—first published by the Associated Press—about potential plans to officially adopt the name "Arabian Gulf" in official US parlance have drawn sharp criticism from Iranian officials and also sparked widespread backlash across social media.
Reactions have cut across political lines, uniting unlikely voices in outrage. Iranians across the political spectrum, from Islamic Republic apparatchiks to the US-based exiled prince viewed any such move as an affront to their historical and national identity.
Common cause
Describing the Persian Gulf as “the strongest factor in uniting the Iranian people” in a post on X, reformist former vice president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi warned about a negative impact of renaming on Tehran-Washington nuclear talks.
Even those who support negotiations with the US, Abtahi said, would be forced to stand in opposition.
Veteran diaspora opposition figure Mohsen Sazegara told Iran International TV that the move could be a boon to a hard Iranian line in talks.
"Trump would provide Khamenei with a great opportunity to use Iranians’ sense of nationalism to his own benefit," he said. "(It's) the best lever Khamenei has to back out of the negotiations."
Exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi also said in a statement: “The reported decision by President Trump to abrogate history, should it be true, is an affront to the people of Iran and our great civilization."
“But, once again, the true culprit of this shameful act is Ali Khamenei and his anti-Iranian regime who have so weakened our nation that foreign powers dare make such transgressions against Iran’s national identity and world history."
The exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq also issued a statement warning that any effort to change the name of the Persian Gulf would only benefit Khamenei, giving him an opportunity to deflect from domestic dissent and redirect public anger toward a foreign enemy.
Some analysts suggest the controversy may be part of a deliberate psychological tactic to destabilize Iran’s negotiating position.
Shahram Kholdi, a Canada-based Iran analyst, pointed to Trump’s close ties with Arab states and argued the maneuver could be strategic. “Trump uses every tactic to psychologically confuse the other side and gain points,” he told Iran International TV.
Pressure to exit talks
Iran’s ultra-hardliners, who had tempered their opposition to US negotiations after Khamenei’s tacit endorsement, are now urging the government to withdraw from the talks.
Naser Mesdaghi, a journalist, urged President Masoud Pezeshkian to immediately walk away from the talks if the US deviates from historical nomenclature.
“All Iranians support this decision and will endure the hardship of sanctions and war for the sake of Iran’s integrity,” he said in a post on X.
Tehran-based commentator Ali Nasri went further, framing the issue as part of a broader disinformation campaign. “This ridiculous rumor … is the next stage of psychological warfare,” he posted on X.
"Having failed to stop the negotiations, the Israel lobby and its affiliated diaspora opposition are now trying to poison and anger public opinion at every stage.”
