Since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran is actively seeking to export its revolution. With success, because, in forty-six years, his services had time to infiltrate many networks. Cultural centers, mosques, Persian language schools, dormant cells: the authors of this excavated investigation tell how Tehran succeeded in establishing themselves permanently within Western societies. So far discreet, this canvas of influence has spread out for the attack on Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.
Thus, Emmanuel Razavi and Jean-Marie Montali underline the intellectual connections of the tenors of France rebellious with the ideas of the “axis of the resistance”, bringing together, among other things, Hezbollah, Hamas and the FPLP, all attached to Tehran, and wonder: Hamas alone had financial, military and strategic means to launch an attack of such a scale? “None of this could have been accomplished without solid complicities”say the authors.
In September 2023, the Wall Street Journal reveals that 500 members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic jihad were sent to Iran to be formed there by the Al-Quds force, the external branch of the body of the Guardians of the Revolutionary, under the supervision of General Ismael Qaani. In parallel, Hamas would have received Qatari aid estimated at several billion dollars as well as regular Iran funding up to $ 20 million per month for two years. Their objective: “Untracted this monstrous Israel entity. »»
Blindness of elites
Beyond military and financial support, the work describes how Iranian mullahs sought to build an ideological alliance with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood to reach non-Muslim countries. The initiative, despite theological differences, takes the form of an “Islamic international”: in exchange for their aid to Sunni groups in the Middle East, Iran benefits from their networks in Europe and the United States. The most confusing, note the authors is that many agents of influence involved in these logics of ideological penetration are funded by universities, think tanks, even public institutions in France or in the United States. “What says a lot about naivety – even blindness – of Western elites”according to them.
This network does not only target people linked to Iran by their origin. Figures perceived as influential in diplomatic or media circles are also approached. This is what Matthieu Ghadiri, a former French police officer, reports, reports that he was approached in 1984, when he was a student, by the Iranian secret services: they offered to infiltrate the Socialist Party, in power at the time. What they do not know is that he is already collaborating with French services. At the request of his hierarchy, he plays the game: false information, truncated analyzes, protection of sensitive information. A dangerous game “On a thread stretched between two powers”.
Matthieu Ghadiri reveals to the authors that Iranian reformers were numerous in embassies and consulates, especially in France, “Considered by the disciples of Ayatollah Khomeini as a fertile recruitment ground”they report. Because Khomeini has always had the ambition to export the Islamic revolution, first in the Middle East, then on a global scale, in order to become the supreme guide of believers and to fight against the influence of Israel and the United States, against which he was ready to ally with the far left around a “nationalist Islam” with anti-imperialist purposes.
“Powerful networks in the West and in France”
The work lists several figures accused of being influence relays. Rouzbeh Parsi, Iranian analyst, is presented as a key man with pro-Téheran lobbying. He would have participated in several confidential diplomatic meetings in connection with the revolution guards, with the mission of promoting the Iranian nuclear program, which has become a real obsession for the regime.
Another name that comes back: Shahin Hazamy, French influencer of Iranian origin who presents himself as a journalist on social networks, renowned for systematically defending Tehran Proxys. The one who displayed himself without complex at the funeral of the Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, is well known to the French intelligence services for his links with the Islamic Republic, and he was also arrested and then indicted last April for apology for terrorism.
An influence machine
Beyond individuals, the investigation highlights a real machine of influence, structured on a European scale and activated by embassies, but also by Shiite diasporas-in particular Lebanese-, Armenian and even Algerian, Algeria having aligned on the Iranian regime in its support for Lebanese Hamas and Hezbollah.
The authors clearly designate the Muslim Brotherhood as an essential cog in this mechanism, “Because they have powerful networks in the West and France”. Another source cited in the work, which worked in the entourage close to the supreme guide Ali Khamenei, assures: “The objective is to influence public opinion, to put pressure on Western political leaders so that they do not support Israel and to form a new Western anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli generation which could indeed become political figures in the future. »» No doubt, the French far left is terribly well of the task.
