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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has made a recruitment pitch to potential informants in Iran to contact the U.S. spy agency as President Donald Trump continues to threaten strikes against the ruling regime.
The social media appeal offered secure ways to contact the CIA amid a new wave of protests in the Islamic Republic over the last four days in which university students have chanted anti-government slogans and in support of exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi.
On Wednesday, students at Iran's University of Art held a protest chanting slogans like "death to the dictator," and "political prisoners must be freed."
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The demonstrations come on the heels of unrest last month against the ailing economy during which the authorities ordered a violent crackdown that killed at least 3,117, according to Tehran. NGOs and rights groups have estimated a much higher death toll of between 7,000 and 30,000. The violence prompted Trump to warn of a U.S. intervention.
A revolutionary court in Tehran on Tuesday issued a death sentence for a man accused of "enmity against god", which if confirmed would be the first such sentence linked to January's mass protests, a source close to the man's family said, according to Reuters.
The CIA social media ad in Farsi, Korean, Russian and Mandarin offered secure ways to contact the agency. It said that the CIA "hears you and wants to help," offering tips on how to make a secure call, which included using a virtual private network, or VPN, to circumvent internet restrictions and surveillance, and the use of a disposable device.
Within a few hours, the Farsi-language post racked up millions of views. CIA Director John Ratcliffe told The Associated Press that previous recruitment posts have had an impact, with its Mandarin video campaign reaching many Chinese citizens.
The U.S. has assembled a large military force in the Middle East and amid anticipation over whether he would order strikes, Trump said in his State of the Union address that Tehran is pursuing missile and nuclear weapons programs despite U.S. efforts to stop them.
Trump said Iran had already developed missiles capable of threatening Europe, U.S. bases and the U.S. mainland. He said Washington was negotiating with Tehran, but he had not heard "the secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.'"
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on X that Tehran "will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon" adding that it would also never "forgo our right to harness the dividends of peaceful nuclear technology for our people."
Araghchi will travel to Geneva on Wednesday for a third round of talks with the United States but the rhetoric from Tehran remains uncompromising, with the country’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warning of a "decisive and strong response" if the U.S. launched military action during negotiations.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA) told RTVC Noticias that failure to reach an agreement could result in the use of force.
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