Israel’s Plotting with Missiles and Hashtags

An Israeli Campaign to Promote Reza Pahlavi

NOURNEWS – At the heart of an Israeli online campaign lies the promotion of Reza Pahlavi as a desirable option for foreign actors. The French newspaper Le Figaro, based on field research, has reported that this campaign is extremely broad and highly coordinated. In one case, 4,765 user accounts on the X network published more than 843 million tweets. In another case, 11,421 accounts placed nearly 1.7 billion likes on posts.

The Zionist regime, in its effort to confront the Islamic Republic of Iran, overlooks no tool and makes use of every possible capacity. This regime, which during the 12-day war employed military tools such as missiles, assassinations, and the bombing of Iran, has now embarked on a new phase of activity to advance its political objectives against our country: the launch of a large-scale, organized “disinformation” campaign across Persian-language social media. This digital operation is a continuation of the same strategy previously pursued during the 12-day war with missiles and bombardment; the only difference is the tools. Now the battlefield has shifted to cyberspace.

At the heart of this Israeli virtual campaign lies the promotion of Reza Pahlavi as a favorable option for foreign actors. The French newspaper Le Figaro, drawing on field research, has reported that this campaign is highly extensive and coordinated. In one instance, 4,765 user accounts on the X network published more than 843 million tweets. In another instance, 11,421 accounts placed close to 1.7 billion likes on posts. One of the most frequently used hashtags across these networks has been #KingRezaPahlavi.

These figures show that we are not facing a spontaneous grassroots wave, but rather a targeted, coordinated, and artificial operation that, through media and psychological tools, seeks to weaken public trust, create false polarizations, and highlight an option backed by foreign support. In the terminology of security and communications, this activity is an example of “black activity in virtual networks,” because the source of the message remains hidden, the content is presented as popular and spontaneous, and the audience—without realizing the message engineering—becomes exposed to politically directed, regime-change-oriented influence.

The goal of the campaign is not to reflect genuine popularity for Pahlavi, but to reproduce the message desired by foreign actors and to influence the mind and psyche of Iranian society. This media tool is used to create a sense of historical return, stir nostalgic emotions, and instill the idea of the absolute inefficiency of Iran’s current political system. Today’s strategic challenge is confronting this soft war. Just as responding to military attacks was not possible solely with artillery and missiles, countering cognitive operations cannot be resolved merely through filtering and denial. Smart exposure, raising public media literacy, and strengthening social cohesion are the main components of defense on this new battlefield.

Experience shows that Israel has expanded its arena of plotting and maneuvering and has equipped and activated a new front in the virtual war against Iran. Israel’s battle with Iran is not over; only its form has changed. This campaign must not be ignored. It is a completely serious and new war, and perhaps even more destructive than military warfare, because its power of penetration far exceeds the range of the enemy’s missiles and it claims more victims. Artificially instilling the idea of Pahlavi’s popularity among the people is the objective of the Zionist regime’s virtual war, and as Le Figaro has reported, significant investment has been made toward this goal. The Zionists’ support for and investment in the remaining pawn of the collapsed Pahlavi dynasty clarifies foreign plans for Iran’s future.