TEHRAN - In the second chapter of the book, Mehdi Mohammadi delves into the fundamental origins of the 2022 riots.

While mainstream media outlets and social platforms attempted to attribute the roots of the September 2022 unrest in Iran to internal factors, Mohammadi's “Mirage of Shadows” contends that the West had been anticipating an event that could capitalize on the seeds it had sown over the past three decades.

Mohammadi challenges the narratives put forth by Western-linked sociologists in various articles, asserting that the events of 2022 cannot solely be attributed to Iran's internal errors and misjudgments. While acknowledging that the adversaries exploited Iran's vulnerabilities and societal issues to sow chaos that year, Mohammadi underlines that the incidents of September 2022 and the subsequent months were orchestrated by the deliberate efforts of Israel and the West to stoke discord and division within the country.

To support this argument, the author taps into a substantial body of evidence gathered through discussions with intelligence officials. He highlights various initiatives by the West aimed at infiltrating the minds of everyday Iranians, seeking to alter their way of life and convictions through captivating and innovative encounters camouflaged as entertainment campaigns. Countless Iranians have been included in such projects in the past years, where they were taught to “think outside the box” and break free from societal, religious, and local norms that “restrict” them.

In addition to engaging in extensive and enduring projects aimed at influencing Iranians, Western operatives have actively sought out potential recruits who can act as “American soldiers” via social media platforms. Typically comprised of young individuals from less affluent backgrounds, this demographic can be swayed by modest monthly stipends or manipulated into perceiving themselves as part of a heroic collective working under Western guidance to “rescue” their nations. Evidence indicates that a significant number of individuals have been approached by Western intelligence agencies in recent years, undergoing grooming to function as ununiformed operatives who are ready to deploy onto the battlefield and carry out assigned missions at any time and any location. A document pointing towards American policies in regard to Iran elaborates how the U.S. believes “societal changes can lead to regime change.”
 
Most of these projects have been carried out by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the U.S. State Department. The ultimate goal has been described as raising a generation of Iranian youth who are “unmanageable” and do not deem it necessary to abide by the norms and laws of the country.

“These people should not care about any taboos whatsoever. Their lives need to be marred by nihilism and a sense of meaninglessness. Nothing in this world should be valuable in their eyes.  We need them to be embroiled and consumed by unrealistic ideas of the world around them, to the point that they would not be able to understand the consequences of their actions. They also need to be ungallant about how the society or the government perceives them,” an important American intelligence document viewed by the author said. 

In order to rile this demographic, the West opted to emphasize three contentious topics: domestic violence, street violence, and systemic violence. Iran was depicted as a nation plagued by persistent discrimination across various genders, economic strata, and ethnic backgrounds and it was portrayed as essential for individuals to take matters into their own hands and challenge this oppressive system, even if that meant they needed to take up extreme measures. 

To be continued…