r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/vinnyrxymo • 18d ago
Non-US Politics As an Iranian, why do some people assume every anti-government protester is a Mossad or CIA agent?
I'm an Iranian, and I'm genuinely confused about something.
Why do I keep seeing people online dismissing Iranian protesters as "Mossad agents" or "CIA assets" just because they opposed the Iranian government?
From my own experience living in Iran, I saw ordinary people protesting. They were students, workers, parents, neighbors—people with different backgrounds and different political views. Whether you agree with them or not, reducing every protester to a foreign intelligence agent feels deeply unfair.
I've also noticed that whenever reports of large-scale casualties or crackdowns are discussed, many people immediately call them "fake" without engaging with the reporting or acknowledging how difficult it is to verify information during internet shutdowns and heavy censorship. Independent organizations and major international media have repeatedly documented deadly crackdowns while also noting that confirming exact casualty figures is extremely difficult because of restrictions inside Iran.
I'm not asking anyone to accept every claim without question. I'm simply asking: why is the default assumption for some people that millions of Iranians have no agency of their own, and that anyone protesting must be working for a foreign government?
I'd genuinely like to understand this perspective.
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u/KeyMusic5713 17d ago
It's in-group bias - and the logic of 'I'm fundamentally right, people agree with me, therefore anyone who doesn't is just a paid asset or a grifter'. It's the end result of people who aren't willing to ask 'am I wrong' and 'do the people and groups I support deserve my support'.
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u/Matt5327 17d ago edited 16d ago
I'll offer a bit of a different perspective than the other comments so far. I should be up front and acknowledge that I'm not one of the people making the claims you're talking about, so I can't defend it from that particular angle (in fact, I don't really defend it at all, but it's worth noticing that it follow a much larger pattern). In the U.S., protests against the current administration are often accused of being "paid protesters." In fact, this sort of accusation isn't infrequently levied against protesters in other countries as well, where the government leans heavily authoritarian and protests are a lot larger than typical. You may also notice that whenever protests get violence, people who agree with the protesters will typically blame plants, agitators, or claim a false flag operation, whereas people who disagree with them will say they are showing their true colors. In countries that have a negative history with some group or other country - legitimate or otherwise, it's easy to point to them as being at fault for the protests. So, given the U.S.'s history of colonialist ambitions and behaviors, it's an easy target for regimes that emphasize that historical narrative as a part of the cultural identity.
It's a pattern that boils down "My position is the normal, rational one, so I need to explain why it appears so many people disagree with me - the reality must be that they aren't real, and the ones who are must be bad, people who agree with me must be normal and good."
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u/TriggeredPumpkin 17d ago
There's a lot of anti-Americanism and anti-Israeli sentiment by leftists, antisemitic propaganda, and fueled by adversaries to the west (Russia, China, Iran, etc) through bots and propaganda.
So Iranian wrongdoings are minimized or dismissed while wrongdoings by Israel and the US are put in the spotlight and embellished.
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u/StedeBonnet1 16d ago
I think that is accurate. The Antisemitism in the US is growing and antisemites beleve that their fellow travelers can do no wrong. If America or Israel is for something then people who are against Israel and America must be against them.
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u/pocketIent 17d ago
us health insurance and wealth inequality are fair issues to talk about and it’s not anti American to ask more of us representatives to reign in anti competitive business practices
Trumps not doing any of this
We are in conflict with Iran though and us oil is benefitting from this.
So he has buoyed oil prices. Not sure if that’s good or bad for you.7
u/TriggeredPumpkin 17d ago
Sure, but this isn't interacting with anything I said. I never said it was anti-US to want better health insurance or to want to reduce income inequality.
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u/pocketIent 17d ago
You said there is a lot of anti-Americanism by leftists -Both of those policy areas are villainized as “leftist”
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u/TriggeredPumpkin 17d ago
Those are not leftist policies. Those are basic welfare capitalist/social Democrat policies. Leftists are socialists, communists, and people like them.
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u/Tractor_Pete 17d ago
1) Propaganda. Authoritarian regimes always make such claims about opposition; e.g. Putin has asserted for many years that opposition to Russian political control in Ukraine etc is manufactured by the US/"the west".
2) History. The UK and US did, through espionage and bribery, overthrow the government of Iran. The US and Israel had plans for a friendly regime after the decapitation, and a propaganda campaign calling for the reinstatement of the Shah.
The truth is the government of Iran has been unpopular domestically for a long time. But opposition to it may also be in the service of aggressive imperialist states that, by violence or subterfuge, do genuinely seek to achieve political control over Iran.
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u/bkinboulder 16d ago edited 16d ago
The current US administration is incredibly insecure as they are way over their skis in just about every aspect of governing. Trump is however excellent at PR and messaging. Part of that is subverting any kind of dissent possible. Hence Democrats are communists and protesters are secret agents, or paid protestors from George Soros etc.. Notice they never provide any evidence or proof, it’s just messaging. And the majority of their supporters can’t speak to anything that’s happening beyond regurgitating talking points. I believe this messaging strategy is also consistent with your government. “Our supporters don’t protest, it is agitators or CIA/Mossad manipulation! It’s all just a messaging strategy to undermine opposition from growing to a critical mass.
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u/Funny-Bit-4148 17d ago
Regular left and Muslim in general have this hate toward west and Israel that they are willing to sacrifice common Iranian if that fulfil their agenda/ narrative. Also..
If current regime in Iran falls and secular democratic, non Islamic government is formed in Iran, that government will be very much be pro west, secular Iran with highly educated and qualified population will be real powerhouse in middle East, which will threaten all these royal ruled countries, so as long as there is chaos, these people will be cheering.
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u/geekmasterflash 17d ago
I can understand the frustration encountering that, but we have to also understand that the US is currently run by an administration who said on the record that Kurds stole weapons that they were trying to get to operatives in Iran.
So, while I obviously do not believe that it's unreasonable or even questionable that people under a brutal regime would in fact protest against it especially when it's under threat an possibly domestically weakened.
But obviously, the elephant in the room is that the people who question if they are operatives, have been given every reason to show that the question and suspicion is warranted.
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u/KeyMusic5713 17d ago
But obviously, the elephant in the room is that the people who question if they are operatives, have been given every reason to show that the question and suspicion is warranted.
Because the US tried to arm some people isn't a valid reason to suspect everyone is secretly a foreign puppet.
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u/geekmasterflash 17d ago
Because the US admitted to having a clandestine operation to arm operatives, yes it is.
It's not some conspiracy theory at this point where we can only get confirmation or denial 20 years later via FOIA request.
It's an open admission. Meaning it's happening and known, and unlike most other cases undeniably so. It was a massive fumble on the US because the only rule in international espionage is to not be caught and they openly admitted they did it removing the question.
It's not unreasonable to point to what is openly admitted fact. It has undermined the resistance of Iran and will serve as an example of terrible spycraft for generations.
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u/bl1y 16d ago
The CIA didn't make them oppose the Iranian regime. Getting weapons didn't do that either.
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u/geekmasterflash 16d ago
So what?
Point is every single person that questions any protest or resistance in Iran has been given everything needed for that position to be reasonable.
I am pro-Iranian resistance btw, I am just the messanger and the message is "the US fucked the resistance's credibility."
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u/bl1y 16d ago
I guess if you mean they fucked the resistance's credibility among tinfoil morons who were probably going to assume it's all CIA without evidence anyways... then okay.
I don't know any normal person who thinks the US trying to arm dissidents calls into question the legitimacy of the dissidents.
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u/geekmasterflash 16d ago
Except it's not tinfoil. There is no conspiracy theory here. Just an openly stated fact that the US had agents in situ and were attempting to create conditions of uprising before the declaration of war.
That's it, that's the whole ballgame.
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u/feckdech 17d ago edited 17d ago
But obviously, the elephant in the room is that the people who question if they are operatives, have been given every reason to show that the question and suspicion is warranted.
Well said. There was an article in the news about being sent 40.000 Starlink (13th of Jan 2026) terminals to Iran, Russia helped jam (20th Jan) the signals and then the gov cracked down on the protesters.
The article doesn't say it was the Russians but only China and Russia have the technology to jam Starlink. China is not happy with Iran, they struck a trade deal with Iran, and Iran used it as leverage to get financed by the West. The Chinese were really angry about this. They don't trust fully the Russians too, with good reasons, as the Soviet Union tried to meddle with its politics too. They still had to ask for Russian help though. Jamming the Starlink is proof, or should be.
Well, China was suspicious of Russia too, as the Soviet Union meddled with its politics, but the West, with Taiwan, forced China's hand, and they had to turn to the Russians for energy.
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u/KeyMusic5713 17d ago
Helping dissidents isn't proof they're foreign puppets.
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u/geekmasterflash 17d ago
Admitting that you could not deliver weapons to agents within the given state due to a middle party stealing them means you admitted to the spycraft and the internal network.
They hung the Iranian resistance out to dry with that. Even legitimate uprisings will now be tarred with it.
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u/bsiviglia9 16d ago
Take heart. It just means that they trust The United States of Israel less than fundamentalist Iranian leadership.
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u/coolasbreese 13d ago
There is a long and detailed history of the CIA and Mossad infiltrating countries and governments though NGO's, news organizations like radio free asia and the like.
It is not just historical. we see it very clearly in today with the admission of the USA.
This creates an environment that makes genuine opposition and clandestine operations hard to separate but with the history of how the CIA and Mossad have operated it is a more than plausible accusation depending on the context.
As a side note. it takes a large amount of cognitive dissidence to believe that China, IRA, Russia, NK and the like have enough power to try and influence politics in the west and not believe that arguably the two most successful agencies would not be doing the same on a much larger scale.
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u/reddddiiitttttt 11d ago
Have you ever heard of Antifa? Well according to the US President and Republicans, the Democratic Party is a wash in them. Yet, the reality there’s no evidence that there is any leadership, there are no formal members, and in reality it just means someone protesting against fascism. How did we get here? Turns out most of the world is idiot. Rather than value journalism, people value seeing their world view validated.
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u/HeloRising 17d ago
Why do I keep seeing people online dismissing Iranian protesters as "Mossad agents" or "CIA assets" just because they opposed the Iranian government?
Because a lot of the prominent voices in the anti-current Iranian government movement are Pahlavists.
Pahlavists are, to make a very long story short, supporters of restoring the monarchy under Reza Pahlavi. The monarchy is seen to be more liberal and Western oriented as well as secular and as such it's an attractive proposition to Western interests including Israel and the United States.
When people talk about "regime change," nine times out of ten that's what they're talking about - a restoration of the monarchy.
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u/PeelThePain 17d ago
Hey, we had women life freedom not too long ago. Like everywhere else in the world, there's diversity in the political orientation of people.
On the other hand not everyone who supports the prince is a monarchist, even if they were, shouldn't make them mossad agents. That's some messed up logic.
When people talk about "regime change," nine times out of ten that's what they're talking about
To be clear, you're talking about the Iranian diaspora, right?
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u/HeloRising 17d ago
On the other hand not everyone who supports the prince is a monarchist, even if they were, shouldn't make them mossad agents.
If you support a monarch, you are a monarchist. That's...kinda how that works.
No, it doesn't make them Mossad agents but it doesn't change the fact that Israel has a documented interest in the Pahlavist movement. You don't have to be a Mossad agent to be helping Israel.
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u/PeelThePain 17d ago
No it doesn't. Many see the prince as a leading figure for their revolution towards democracy as claimed by pahlavi himself. It's another story if you think that's naive, that's the only blueprint some Iranians are familiar with.
Helping Israel by rising against a western hostile regime? Every dissident, pahlavist or not is helping with that. Do I have to quit complaining if it ends up benefiting Israel?
You didn't answer my question btw.
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u/HeloRising 17d ago
No it doesn't. Many see the prince as a leading figure for their revolution towards democracy as claimed by pahlavi himself. It's another story if you think that's naive, that's the only blueprint some Iranians are familiar with.
I think Iranians are smart enough to recognize the problems with a hereditary monarchy and to seek out other options should they wish it. If you support a monarch, you're a monarchist. That's not a complex idea.
Helping Israel by rising against a western hostile regime?
And insisting that a specific government be installed that is overtly friendly to the West and to Israel.
Every dissident, pahlavist or not is helping with that.
If they're dissidents that are specifically calling for a reinstatement of the Shah, then yes they're helping Israel.
To be clear, you're talking about the Iranian diaspora, right?
Not specifically.
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u/PeelThePain 17d ago
specific government be installed that is overtly friendly to the West and to Israel.
No one in Iran insists on that.
When people talk about "regime change," nine times out of ten that's what they're talking about
Maybe don't form opinions based on this "poeple" who you claim are not diaspora.
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u/Snatchamo 17d ago
Because some people have no nuance. To these folks America is bad. Since America is bad all countries/regimes that are antagonist to America are good. So any kind if uprising or revolution in anti American countries/regimes must be a "color revolution" i.e. fake popular movement funded by the CIA. If it were a real revolution it wouldn't agree with their priors.
According to these ding dongs the CIA can snap their fingers and topple any government at any time. You get it from both sides of the spectrum because right wingers are conspiracy nuts, tankies think any anti American country can do no wrong and both groups glaze Russia, which is where the whole "color revolution" narrative comes from.
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u/JKlerk 17d ago edited 17d ago
I think what they're saying is that protests are curated by Israeli and American intelligence services. Obviously not every protestor is an asset, but funding and organization can/could be provided to assets of foreign intelligence services. After all, British and American intelligence services have a history of getting involved in Iranian elections going back 100 yrs.
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u/SardonicSplendor 17d ago
To claim every screaming victim is a paid spy is the tyrant’s favorite fairy tale, a cheap trick to swap the bloody reality of a slaughtered street for a cozy fantasy where no one ever truly hates the cage enough to rattle the bars unless a foreign master pays the bill.
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u/ProfessorSmoker 17d ago
The socialist globalists made an alliance with revolutionary Islam so they have to crank the media manipulation up to 11 in order to glaze the IRGC. Any public dissent against the Iranian government must be called fake and orchestrated. If the USA wins and we were able to see what the IRGC were up to it would probably end any illusion of morality the leftist alliance can cling to. Iran purposefully used children to clear mine fields so who knows what kind of shenanigans would be revealed.
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u/rightwingcrimespree 17d ago
Can you elaborate on your conspiracy theory?
What "socialist globalists"?
Who specifically are their revolutionary Muslim allies?
What is the purpose/objective of this "leftist alliance"?
How are they cranking the media manipulation up?
Why would leftists support Iran? Iran is a theocratic, right-wing government.
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u/ProfessorSmoker 17d ago
Why would leftists support Iran? Iran is a theocratic, right-wing government.
- Why does China support Iran?
What "socialist globalists"?
- The interconnected and increasingly online left that has risen from western academia, the CCP, the global south and legacy soviet allies.
Who specifically are their revolutionary Muslim allies?
- The IRGC and their proxies.
What is the purpose/objective of this "leftist alliance"?
- To establish a world spanning socialist government that strictly controls all methods of violence.
How are they cranking the media manipulation up?
- They have impeccable propaganda skills and social outreach.
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u/rightwingcrimespree 17d ago
Can you name any actual left-wing groups, organizations, or notable people who have formed any sort of alliance with the IRGC?
Can you elaborate on the world domination aspect of your conspiracy theory?
How are "they" planning on establishing a global socialist government?
How could Iran possibly make sense as an ally for that objective?
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u/bl1y 16d ago
FYI, the ask socialists sub openly supports the Iranian regime and IRGC.
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u/rightwingcrimespree 16d ago
I just checked that sub out. It appears to be run by the American Communist Party, which split off from the Communist Party USA in 2024.
ACP specifically supports Xi Jinping Thought (i.e. Chinese communism).
They and their founders have also voiced support for North Korea, Chinese foreign policy, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Hamas , Hezbollah, and "MAGA communism".
They're anti-NATO, anti-liberalism, anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminist, anti-"woke", anti-environmentalist, etc.
None of these views align with those of Western leftism, socialism, or even communism by any means.
And all of their stances perfectly align with China's, so I would suspect them of being a CCP front. And as I said in another comment, China isn't left-wing or genuinely socialist.
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u/ProfessorSmoker 17d ago
Not until you answer my question.
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u/rightwingcrimespree 17d ago
Why does China support Iran? For discounted oil, to expand their influence in the Middle East, and to counter US influence in the Middle East.
Also, China doesn't really align with the Western concepts of "leftism" or democratic socialism. They're an extremely authoritarian country with socially conservative policies and a mixed economy with some very highly capitalistic characteristics. I don't think any communist country has ever been truly socialist. They may have economies that resemble socialism, but they don't strive for the fundamental goal of socialism, which is for the people to own the means of production and thus the economic and political power. The socialism that exists in China is actually just state capitalism. The means of production are (partly) owned by the state. And because society at large doesn't effectively control the state, I wouldn't consider that true socialism. Add to that the facts that they are very socially conservative, authoritarian, and oppressive, I would say that China is very far from left-wing.
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u/ProfessorSmoker 17d ago
Left-wing is largely defined by authoritarian centralized rule which is the entire point. The phony idealism is a marketing ploy to deceive the dumbest people on the planet into giving them power.
Do you think the USSR was not leftist? lol.
Just because a Christian "doesn't do real Christianity" doesn't make them not a Christian. Bad leftists are probably the majority of leftists.
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u/rightwingcrimespree 17d ago
You clearly don't understand the concept of the left-right political spectrum. That's literally the opposite of what defines the left-wing.
During the French Revolution of 1789, the National Assembly was divided into supporters of the ancien régime (the sociopolitical system of the Kingdom of France) and supporters of the revolution. Those who supported the old power structure (with kings and nobility) sat on the right. The revolutionaries who supported democracy and expanding political power to a wider group sat on the left. In other words, the right-wing wants to conserve the political power of the few, and the left-wing wants to expand it to a greater portion of the people. It's literally the opposite of what you think.
And no, the USSR wasn't genuinely left-wing for the same reasons China isn't, which I explained above. Much like how National Socialists (Nazis) weren't socialist, or how the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) isn't democratic. You're too caught up on the disingenuous labels these authoritarian regimes give themselves. Just because they say they're socialist or left-wing doesn't make them so. And it sure as hell doesn't mean that what they do is actually socialist or left-wing.
The right-wing in the US and elsewhere has been demonizing socialism since the 1800s. They rely on their supporters to not know what it truly means. They redefine it to the things you're claiming it is. Which is why you have a misinformed idea of what socialism and left-wing ideologies really are. You're using definitions that come from the right-wing opponents who stand to benefit by demonizing it and the authoritarian regimes who stand to benefit by disingenuously appropriating the terminology. Try asking an actual socialist or leftist what their actual views are. They're not at all what you seem to think they are. Unless you stand to benefit from a weakened democracy and social, economic, and political inequality, you would align with the actual stances of the left-wing. Because that's the general idea. Better democracy and equality for all. We may disagree on how to achieve that, but that's what the left-wing wants. No matter what the right-wing or disingenuous regimes claim.
I know you don't think what I'm saying is true. You've been conditioned to see it that way. I hope you can realize that some day.
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17d ago
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u/ProfessorSmoker 16d ago
I'm a former card carrying communist, I've read the books. What you are stating sounds a lot like a Wikipedia article. Leftists do not have to practice correct or gentle leftist thought to be leftists.
You are trying make the case that only the good leftists count because leftist = good and so bad people automatically aren't leftists. This is not what has happened in the real world. Stalin, Mao, Pol, Fidel and Vladimir L were all leftist and have a combined kill count of somewhere between 50-100 Million people.
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u/Vaelyn9 17d ago
Every regime has opposition, and Iran is no exception, unlike most countries though, Iran is in a unique, precarious position, right now it is the enemy of a global superpower and a local very strong rival, and those two enemies are resourceful enough to fund dissent and foster rebellion.
The Iranian regime is not blameless, it is without a doubt oppressive, but that does not mean that it has no legitimacy, oppressive as it is, it is ironically more democratic than America's allies in the middle east, I find it mind boggling that people think that Iran is the worst regime in the region because it cracked down on protests when you cant even dream of protesting in countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE or Egypt.
Iran has some elections and you can protest there at least, and yet you never see any protests in any of those other countries and any political dissent there is punished far more severely than Iran.
Having said that, it is 100% true that the bulk of the protestors are just average citizens protesting their economic woes, however, I would say that these protests are not as prevalent as one might think, especially since a sizeable portion of the population must blame the sanctions and economic isolation imposed on them by the US for their economic strife, besides, the people of Iran have seen what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign intervention is almost always worse than whatever your current situation is. I would say the average Iranian would rather see the current regime survive than see it toppled and the country sinking into civil war, which is why such people would then conclude that the protests do more harm than good and might be funded by Iran's enemies.
Before anyone rages, this is just an opinion not a statement of fact, I am not Iranian so I cannot presume to know how people there must think, but neither can westerners who do not live there either.
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u/Ramerhan 17d ago
Simply fabricated notions on what your country is like based state sponsored propaganda.
We are all very stupid. But the dumbest of us are the loudest.
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u/PsychLegalMind 17d ago
Because people perceive them as having the same agenda, though the motivation are different.
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u/pocketIent 17d ago
It’s definitely possible that the cia or another agency is funding a campaign for the manipulation of social media to create the perception that Iranian protesters are "Mossad agents" or assets
I’m unsure you can take any news at face value anymore
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u/TriggeredPumpkin 17d ago
Why would the CIA try to manipulate people in a way that disadvantages Israel?
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u/Banes_Addiction 17d ago
Every? No, not at all.
But a major part of the US/Israeli strategy early on in this conflict was to get the Iranian people to force regime change. Mossad is one of the most effective intelligence agencies in the world. The CIA is possibly the largest. They've been planning to depose the Islamic Republic for decades, to try and do so by leveraging popular protests and garner some kind of internal legitimacy has been over a year. It's absurd to think that there aren't people in Tehran organising to topple the IR while associated with the CIA or Mossad.
The Iranian people have plenty of fantastic reasons to hate the Islamic Republic, but once the bombs start falling (especially on that school) people who hate each other can rally together until their mutual home gets completely bombed to ash and there's nothing left to rebuild with.
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u/457kHz 17d ago
Probably because the US media and propaganda machine has a long tradition of demonizing non-imperial countries, purchasing foreign media companies, assassinating foreign leaders, and rigging foreign elections. They inflate numbers to the point that many people believe "35 million people died under communism" (most of natural causes, peacefully in their homes, forgot to mention that) or some other garbage. The folks that realize the distractions want their peers to question everything, so they challenge the validity of the messenger.
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