Tracing Iran’s Web of Influence in European Politics

On 26 Novem­ber 2023, the Nation­al Coun­cil of Resis­tance of Iran (NCRI) report­ed that a study by Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) at the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment exposed Iran’s covert oper­a­tions to influ­ence Euro­pean pol­i­tics. The report, “Trac­ing Iran’s Web of Influ­ence in Euro­pean Pol­i­tics: An Intense Cam­paign to Vil­i­fy Demo­c­ra­t­ic Oppo­si­tion,” reveals the Iran­ian regime’s sys­tem­at­ic efforts to con­nect with influ­en­tial aca­d­e­mics and researchers glob­al­ly through the “Iran Experts Ini­tia­tive” (IEI). This ini­tia­tive, start­ing in spring 2014, was designed to advance Tehran’s strate­gic goals, includ­ing its nuclear ambi­tions. Leaked emails between Iran­ian diplo­mats and ana­lysts, span­ning from 2003 to 2021, dis­closed a net­work that sub­tly influ­enced Euro­pean and U.S. pol­i­cy deci­sions. This influ­ence oper­a­tion, part­ly financed by Euro­pean tax­pay­ers, aimed to prop­a­gate Tehran’s nar­ra­tives and under­mine the demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­si­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly the People’s Moja­hedin Orga­ni­za­tion of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the NCRI. The report under­scores the need for trans­paren­cy and vig­i­lance in for­eign pol­i­cy and high­lights the Iran­ian regime’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and fear of demo­c­ra­t­ic oppo­si­tion, urg­ing Euro­pean gov­ern­ments to recon­sid­er their poli­cies towards Iran and the NCRI.