Iran plans to widen its pursuit of regime critics abroad, with a new online system set up to “identify and punish traitors” outside the country.
Under the scheme, loyalists are encouraged to “send information” about regime opponents to an online portal or messenger app. Those identified as “traitors” could have their Iranian citizenship revoked, state television said.
It said the stated aim of the project – known as Elaaj, meaning remedy or cure – is to “protect national security and the interests of the Iranian people against anti-patriotic, separatist movements and those promoting sanctions and military attacks”.
Punishments could also include “cutting off financial and media access for traitors living abroad”, state media said, without explaining what that would mean.
Monday's announcement is the latest in a long line of Iranian policies to track down and intimidate expats who oppose the clerical leadership in Tehran. In June, two men were found guilty in Britain of stabbing a journalist for anti-regime TV station Iran International, a hit which prosecutors said had been ordered “on behalf of the Iranian state”.
Iranian authorities regularly label opposition activists and dissidents abroad as “anti-revolutionary” or “separatist”. Human rights campaigners say such charges are often used broadly in national security cases. Iranian cyber attackers have also been known to develop sophisticated phishing campaigns to target dissidents abroad.
While Iran's leadership has so far withstood US and Israeli attempts to force it from power, the leadership in Tehran remains wary of any public unrest that could lead to a repeat of mass anti-regime protests in December and January. Activists estimate that 7,000 people were killed in a resulting crackdown.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has sought to boost the morale of Iranians over the fragile state of the economy, with the US applying ever more pressure under its so-called Operation Economic Outcast.
However, elusive supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has told officials not to publicise the country's problems. In published remarks last month that appeared at odds with Mr Pezeshkian's tone, Mr Khamenei said ministers should instead “highlight the country's “power and strength”.
Region on edge
The new crackdown comes with the US-Iran war still in a state of limbo. A meeting planned for Monday between Iran and several Gulf Arab nations over a temporary shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz never took place, stalling hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough.
Brent crude prices have topped $108 a barrel in recent days due to fears that a prolonged war in the Middle East will further constrain supplies of fuel such as diesel.
On Monday, President Donald Trump appeared to suggest the US was open to new talks aimed at ending the broader war, saying in a social media post that “Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly”. Mr Trump said he would determine “whether or not the USA will choose to engage”, but said he was open to the idea.
Badr Albusaidi, the Foreign Minister of Oman, which has been negotiating with Iran for weeks over the management of maritime traffic through the strait, said late on Sunday the decision to postpone the regional Gulf talks was taken “in the interests of consensus.”
