Iranian regime actors are engaging influence campaigns to stoke and fund anti-Israel protests in the United States of America, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned in a statement on Tuesday, July 9.

“In recent weeks, Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza, using a playbook we’ve seen other actors use over the years,” said Haines. “We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.”

The director of national intelligence is the head of the U.S. intelligence community, overseeing 17 agencies including the CIA, NSA and FBI.

Haines wrote that her statement is the first of a series of updates on foreign influence efforts ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. Iran is “increasingly aggressive” on that front, as it “attempts to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” she stated.

On May 30, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, wrote a public letter addressed to the “young people, whose awakened conscience has moved them to defend the oppressed women and children of Gaza.

“Dear university students in the United States of America, this message is an expression of our empathy and solidarity with you,” he wrote. “As the page of history is turning, you are standing on the right side of it.

“You have now formed a branch of the resistance front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government’s ruthless pressure—a government which openly supports the usurper and brutal Zionist regime,” Khamenei added in his English-language missive.

The scale and organization of anti-Israel protests on college campuses and in cities across the country have raised questions about whether groups organizing the protests are receiving outside or even foreign funding.

Haines said that many of the American citizens who participated in the anti-Israel protests were expressing their views on the Israel-Hamas war in good faith, but it was important to warn of foreign actors seeking to exploit domestic political debates for malicious purposes.

“Americans who are being targeted by this Iranian campaign may not be aware that they are interacting with or receiving support from a foreign government,” said Haines. “We urge all Americans to remain vigilant as they engage online with accounts and actors they do not personally know.”

Since Haines had warned Congress in May about increasingly aggressive Iranian influence campaigns in the U.S. in relation to election cycles, the regime had continued to adapt its cyber activities on social media. Haines said it was likely they continued to use intelligence assets and Iranian influencers to promote useful narratives.

The U.S. Public’s Concern

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre commented on Haines’s statement during Tuesday’s press briefing, saying that Iran and any other foreign actor that seeks to conduct these types of influence activities and stoke divisions is unacceptable.

The U.S. will continue to expose attempts to undermine its democracy and society, just as it is today, she said.

“The U.S. government will continue to vigorously support and defend Americans in their exercise of their First Amendment rights to protest and express political views peacefully,” Jean-Pierre said. “At the same time, we continue to warn against and expose foreign efforts to meddle in our internal affairs and attempt to amplify conflict.”

The former is an essential part of a robust, functioning democracy, she added, the latter is a threat and “will not be tolerated.”

Jean-Pierre said Biden has been briefed on this matter.

Secure Community Network said that it was important that a senior American official had publicly acknowledged Iran’s role in the post-October 7 protest movement.

“Iran’s brazen actions, in support of a growing, violent group of pro-Hamas supporters in American streets and on American campuses, is unacceptable and must be fought by the US government, local leaders, university presidents and all who oppose a terrorist state influencing life in America,” SCN Director and CEO Michael Masters said in a statement on Tuesday. “The pro-Hamas protests in the United States are dangerous and now we know they are being propped up by Iran.”

The intelligence update came as part of a series of regular updates on malicious foreign activities seeking to influence U.S. elections. The new procedure follows concerns by the U.S. public about foreign influence in the 2016 and 2020 presidential and congressional elections.

Immediately following Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel, mass protests erupted in the United States and the rest of the world. Protests have sought to disrupt public life and the flow of economic arteries, as well as advance anti-Israel policies in U.S. institutions. The movement has seen violent attacks on pro-Israel institutions and people in North America, and widespread vandalism against businesses and Jewish sites. Academic campuses in April became occupied by student activist protest encampments that sought to force administrations to cut ties with Israel.