Iran International
A senior Tehran official has alleged Israel deployed the occult and supernatural spirits in its war with Iran, prompting widespread mockery and a renewed debate over the role of jinn in Iranian political discourse.
“A strange phenomenon,” declared Abdollah Ganji, former chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated daily Javan, to his 150,000 followers on X on July 9.
“After the recent war, several pieces of paper were found on the streets of Tehran containing talismans with Jewish symbols," he added. "A few years ago, the Supreme Leader said that hostile countries and Western and Hebrew intelligence services use occult sciences and jinn beings for espionage."
In March 2020, supreme leader Ali Khamenei alleged in a televised address that “enemies from among both jinn and human beings” were arrayed against Iran.
The quote was later removed from some official transcripts.
What Are Jinn?
Ganji—now an advisor to the mayor of Tehran—was echoing a broader pattern of supernatural claims pervading Iran’s official political narrative.
In Islamic tradition, jinn are supernatural beings made from fire, distinct from humans, who are created from soil.
Mentioned frequently in the Quran and rooted in pre-Islamic mythology, jinn are believed by some to have the ability to shapeshift, influence human thoughts, and act as agents of harm or espionage.
References to them remain common in Iranian political and religious rhetoric, particularly when discussing Israel and Western powers. Clerics on Iranian television and radio have repeatedly discussed Israel’s alleged use of jinn.
“Given the Zionists’ history of controlling jinn, many of their missions are carried out through them,” said Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karami in an October 2024 program.
In March 2023, state TV aired remarks by Quranic scholar Hojjat ol-Eslam Valiyollah Naghipourfar, who claimed Iran’s intelligence services had thwarted Israeli infiltration efforts conducted via jinn.
Scapegoating failure?
While many clerics view jinn as real and spiritually potent, others—particularly among Iran’s modernist theologians—interpret them metaphorically.
Ganji’s comment on X renewed the debate, with moderate voices pushing back.
“Talking about Jewish talismans and the role of jinn and fairies in Israel’s aggression against Iran is an attempt to downplay the role of infiltrators and to overlook the enemy’s tactics,” former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said on X.
Desert totems
Ganji’s post—and the ensuing debate—wasn’t missed in Israel.
“Consuming drugs and conversing with jinn are not desirable traits in someone leading a country,” an X account purporting to represent Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, posted in Persian.
To make the debate even more intriguing, Ganji’s post coincided with the circulation of a satellite image showing geometric patterns—including Stars of David and triangles—etched into a desert near a missile base in central Iran.
The origin of the shapes remains unclear, but some social media users linked them to occult or symbolic efforts aimed at Iran’s military.
Iranian authorities have since removed the markings but Israeli diplomat Waleed Gadban reposted an image of the desert patterns with a mocking caption: “We are closer to you than your jugular vein.”
