Former 'Time' Magazine Journalist Says She Was Targeted By Iranian Spies
NPR
Thursday, February 11, 2016
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Mary Louise Kelly talks to Iranian-American writer Azadeh Moaveni about how Iran's intelligence establishment tries to intimidate journalists. In a recent article in Foreign Policy magazine, Moaveni writes about an experience that started with a tweet from someone claiming to represent a popular Iranian TV station.
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Mary Louise Kelly talks to Iranian-American writer Azadeh Moaveni about how Iran's intelligence establishment tries to intimidate journalists, and what happened to her in a London cafe.
Transcript
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Let's spend the next few minutes unraveling a spy story. Specifically, the story of a journalist who says she was targeted by Iranian intelligence agents from halfway around the world. The journalist is Azadeh Moaveni. She's a former Middle East correspondent for Time magazine. After many years reporting from Iran, she now lives in England, and that's where she was one recent evening when she received a tweet from someone claiming to represent a popular Iranian TV station. He said he was interested in her views on the station's coverage, and so they arranged to speak by Skype.
AZADEH MOAVENI: From the outset, it - you know, it was a slightly odd conversation. I mean, the reception was bad. I said, why don't you call me on my cell phone because it will be a lot clearer? And this man, who introduced himself as Sahel, said no, let's stay on Skype, and asked for my thoughts on their programming. You know, do you think we're biased or are we not biased? You know, asked for very specific kind of feedback. He said say, for example, that the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, were to send a letter to the youth of Europe, you know, reaching out. Is that the kind of news you think our station should cover?
KELLY: And we should note - because this is a key point - you're on Skype, he said his camera was broken, but he asked that you turn yours on so he can see you.
MOAVENI: Exactly. And when he said my camera isn't working, but can you please turn yours on, I didn't really think too much about it. I just kind of wanted to get the phone call over with. So there I am, sitting in this sandwich shop in Waterloo Station. I don't cover my hair, I'm just looking as I do so that he's seeing me on video as I respond to this rather delicate question about the supreme leader - which, of course, you know, within an Iranian context is extremely sensitive. I mean, people are sent to prison. It's a common charge to level against critics.
KELLY: So you have this whole conversation with him, and then a couple of weeks went by and you learned that this caller was not at all who he introduced himself as.
MOAVENI: Yes. So that's exactly right. So about two weeks later, I saw on Twitter that people were sharing a screenshot of that Twitter account, saying that it was fake.
KELLY: Now what makes you so certain that this was, in fact, an Iranian intelligence agent posing as a journalist?
MOAVENI: You know, having worked in Iran for years as a journalist and sort of watching how the security services operate, this is the kind of stuff that feeds the state narrative, or the part of the state that's very paranoid about the West, about regime change, about America's intentions. This is the fodder that they use in their television broadcasts. And then there were others. I mean, I had - you know, I knew other journalists who had been approached by this same, you know, Twitter account. And now, actually, we're seeing - some of it's coming out. I mean, I feel quite fortunate in that, you know, my Skype interview hasn't come out, but there are some Iranian news networks that are now putting online these fake interviews.
KELLY: Help us understand what Iran has to gain by monitoring you, a journalist living and working in England.
MOAVENI: There's a core within the Iranian political establishment that is very, very wary of Iran opening up culturally after this nuclear deal. So they're worried about people like me who are dual nationals. Iranian-Americans are viewed as kind of gateway citizens, right? We're the ones who have very intimate connections inside Iran and, you know, we're connected in the States and in the political establishment, within the media. People like us, you know, are viewed as a real threat by that part of the regime that's deeply paranoid.
KELLY: How has this encounter left you feeling about Iran, a country where you have lived and worked for much of your life?
MOAVENI: It fills me with a lot of disappointment because I see things changing. I see the doors opening. I see groups of academics going. I see Iran becoming a destination for tourism. You know, and it's something I would like to be able to cover. I would like to be able to go back and take my children, you know, to see our family. But, you know, when something like this happens, it's just such an abrupt, kind of rude reminder that for Iranians who are dual nationals, it's still very precarious. You know, this blossoming of Iran opening to the world doesn't really include us yet.
KELLY: Azadeh, thank you.
MOAVENI: Thank you.
KELLY: That's journalist Azadeh Moaveni, former Time magazine correspondent in Iran. She wrote about this encounter in Foreign Policy magazine in an article headlined "Iranian Spies Tried To Entrap Me In A Pret A Manger." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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