Tehran, Iran – Iran’s hardline-dominated parliament has approved the broad outlines of a plan presented as a means of combatting foreign “infiltration”, with a consequential focus on academia, media and the cultural sector.
Proponents have presented it as an effort to complement another tough law punishing espionage passed after last year’s 12-day war with Israel and the United States to bolster wartime national security.
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The controversy around the plan this week erupted as the deadline of a memorandum of understanding with Washington expired, amid prospects of further military escalation in the current US-Israel war on Iran. But Ruhollah Nejabat, a hardline member of parliament from Shiraz, said the plan was first approved earlier this year to counter the “influence” of Iran’s enemies.
The envisioned legislation, which was approved during a remote parliamentary session on Sunday, has alarmed the public, experts and even elements within the government, as it would further curtail personal freedoms.
A 19-article draft of the bill was previously published by state-linked media, with an updated 33-article version released on Wednesday. Before becoming law, the bill needs final ratification by parliament, as well as by a powerful 12-member constitutional watchdog known as the Guardian Council – a process that could take weeks or months.
What’s in the plan?
The general principles approved by hardline lawmakers, who have dominated parliament since 2020 after elections marked by a historically low turnout and candidate disqualifications, establish broad restrictions on contact with foreign countries.
The updated version of the bill released on Wednesday provides more information about what could be in the final law, if it is eventually passed.
The prospective bill defines the “activity” with foreign counterparts that it wishes to control as including publishing, statistics, scholarships, scientific cooperation, media work, research samples, money, goods and services, legal advice and artistic production.
It would group countries into three tiers, according to how much scrutiny authorities would place on contact with them, with the US and Israel expected to be placed in the highest tier.
The Ministry of Interior would then establish a portal where a broad range of foreign-linked activities – including exchanging reports, data or statistics – would have to be registered.
Foreign-supported workshops, courses or classes could lead to imprisonment for organisers and possible punishment for participants. NGOs, parties and associations would have to register, and in some cases seek approval for, foreign funds, contracts, training or other benefits, or risk getting dissolved.
Existing foreign-linked activities would have to be registered within three months of the portal becoming operational.
The education, science and health ministries must also incorporate “enemy infiltration” awareness and media literacy into books and curricula, with input from the Ministry of Intelligence and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.
An article in the plan says that any interaction or cooperation with foreign media requires both registration and prior permission. Unauthorised conversations or interviews with media considered hostile by the Islamic Republic are also prohibited, as are media owned, managed or funded by foreign agents connected to countries placed in the top two tiers. Violators could face six months to several years in prison.
And anything deemed to be false information, analysis or policy recommendations given under knowing foreign direction that harms Iran’s security or the trust of the public in the state carries a maximum stated punishment of 30 years’ imprisonment.
Arts and culture are not spared either, as foreign-supported or directed films, music, books and other works that question religious rules were singled out in the proposed legislation. Any works that depict Iran negatively or promote “anti-Islamic culture” could trigger fines, permanent professional bans and production stoppages.
Activities of the armed forces and Intelligence Ministry, as well as political officials’ participation in relevant foreign activities, are exempt from registration on the portal.
What has the reaction been?
Speaking to state media on Wednesday, Majid Ansari, a religious leader serving as deputy for legal affairs for President Masoud Pezeshkian, said the government was in “explicit opposition” to the planned legislation.
Ansari said the government believed the plan would impose “serious restrictions” on scientific work and obstruct Iranian academics’ access to international colleagues, while also damaging Iran’s image in international media and “intensifying and accelerating brain drain” – an issue that has dogged Iran for years as many escape deteriorating conditions in search of a more stable life.
Ansari also said the plan ran counter to the constitution as well as citizens’ rights and personal freedoms. Iran’s main vulnerability, he said, came not from the kinds of “minor and lower-level infiltration” that such a law might address, but from “larger-scale issues” resulting from existing “points of infiltration” and inadequate oversight within the establishment.
Last month, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state-linked media that the security breach behind the assassination of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a large number of other top officials in late February had probably not been resolved. He said the infiltration appeared to go beyond gathering intelligence and instead included the “steering [of] decision-making”.
Local media also extensively covered the proposed anti-infiltration plan. “The current plan smells of restrictions for media and reduced freedoms for the operations of the press, parties and even citizens instead of countering infiltrations by aliens,” Nournews, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said, adding the plan must be reconsidered.
However, the ultraconservative Keyhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief was appointed by the supreme leader, strongly supported the plan, and argued that only people with hidden foreign links should fear it. The Jam-e Jam newspaper, published by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) agency, also praised it as a “revolutionary resolution”.
Reformist media outlets were less convinced, with Shargh newspaper calling it a “law against communication”.
Speaking to the state-linked Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), legal expert and university professor Kambiz Norouzi said he was “baffled” by the plan, which he said is “wholly inconsistent with the fundamental rights of the people”. He said the general principles approved by members of parliament are likely to undergo considerable changes before final approval, but the fact remains that lawmakers were in favour of the many limiting measures included.
“This type of lawmaking, which is prevalent in the country, not only does not help law and order in running the affairs of the country, but will also propagate disorder,” Norouzi said.
One medical researcher at the University of Tehran, who plans to leave for a Western country next year to pursue a PhD and seek a more stable life, said she was not immediately concerned with the plan, because many provisions are vague or too expansive to be feasible for nationwide enforcement.
“But this is another concerning precedent. Many people in student and academic groups that I follow are very worried and have a negative outlook about what comes next,” she told Al Jazeera, asking to remain anonymous due to security concerns.
The researcher also said students studying abroad, who may have opposed the Islamic Republic in rallies and demonstrations in Europe and across the world, may face security problems as a result of the proposed law if they return to the country.
The news has also garnered much attention on social media, where, in addition to expressing their frustrations and concerns, Iranian users also processed the developments through dark humour.
“Today I downloaded and read an English-language article from one of the journals not approved by the Ministry of Intelligence. I hope Sepah isn’t tracking me,” one user wrote, in reference to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the force running war, politics and most of the economy in Iran.
