From Ahmad Chalabi to Reza Pahlavi: The politics of manufactured opposition

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  By Ivan Sascha Sheehan , Majid Rafizadeh washingtonexaminer Published October 30, 2026 9:00am ET In May 2004, 14 months after the invasion of Iraq , it was clear that weapons of mass destruction could no longer be cited as justification for it. An intelligence source told the Guardian , “It’s pretty clear that the Iranians had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” They were referring to Iraqi fraudster Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress, which he headed. In the months before the invasion, Chalabi’s operation fed Washington repeated claims about Saddam Hussein’s purported WMD program. The claims seemed to arrive through separate channels, independently corroborating one another. In reality, they all had one source. If Iranian intelligence was involved, Tehran had helped remove its greatest regional enemy without ever needing to persuade an American to serve the clerical regime’s interests. Twenty-some years later, a similar question faces Western capitals, this time ab...
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US Cyber Attack on Iran

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By Jubin Katiraie
The US military’s cyber forces launched a digital strike against Iran’s military computer systems on Thursday, at roughly the same time that Donald Trump cancelled a conventional military strike in retaliation for Iran’s takedown of a US surveillance drone.
Two US officials said that the cyber strikes were approved by Trump, while a third provided the outlines. The trio spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the action.


These cyber attacks have disabled Iran’s computer systems controlling its rocket and missile launchers; specifically, those operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC, which the US blames for the oil tanker attacks earlier this month, was designated a foreign terrorist group by the US earlier this year.
There was no immediate reaction from Iran.
Tensions have been rising between the US and Iran ever since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal last year and began reimposing sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table for a fairer agreement that deals with Iran’s other malign activities, including its ballistic weapons programme, regional warmongering, support for terrorism, and human rights abuses.
These are just the latest example of cyber attacks between the two nations. In recent weeks, hackers believed to be working for Tehran targeted US government agencies and private firms linked to the finance and energy sectors. According to cybersecurity companies CrowdStrike and FireEye, this began shortly after the US increased sanctions on Iran’s oil industry in May. It is unclear whether the hackers gained access to the targeted networks through their spear phishing campaign.
John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at FireEye, said: “You can absolutely expect the regime to be leveraging every tool they have available to reduce the uncertainty about what’s going to happen next, about what the US’s next move will be.”
The Iranian actor responsible, called “Refined Kitten” or APT33, has spent years targeting the energy and defence sectors of the US and its allies, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher C. Krebs said he has been working with the intelligence community and cybersecurity partners to monitor Iran’s cyber activity and ensure the safety of the US and its allies.
While the National Security Agency said: “In these times of heightened tensions, it is appropriate for everyone to be alert to signs of Iranian aggression in cyberspace and ensure appropriate defences are in place.”
Source: iranfocus

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