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Report | The Revolutionary Guards’ information policy on the web: methods and research into the Iranian digital landscape | 13 October 2026
This TETRIS seminar examined how the Iranian Revolutionary Guards conceive and implement their online influence strategy. This research is set against the backdrop of the growing prevalence of constrained, sensitive or restricted ‘fields’, of which Iran is one. The TETRIS seminars (a project selected under the DÉCRIPT 2025 call for proposals and led by INALCO and Géode) aim to develop ‘digital fields’ as subjects and methods of research, and to disseminate this expertise beyond academic circles.
Key takeaways
1) Iran’s ‘information war’ is neither unilateral nor top-down
1) Iran’s ‘information war’ is neither unilateral nor top-down
The Revolutionary Guards have had a keen awareness of US public policy and influence since 1945, particularly through its agencies and radio broadcasts. In response, the Guardians’ information policy – which forms part of the corps’ broader cultural policy – seeks to present a narrative of international relations in which Iran is portrayed in a favourable light. This information policy is not based on a centralised, top-down approach, in that there is no single infrastructure governing all content.
2) ‘Soft defence’ is presented as a response to an attack suffered
2) ‘Soft defence’ is presented as a response to an attack suffered
A home-grown doctrine of ‘soft defence’ began to take shape in the 2000s, particularly in 2003 in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq. This military doctrine, which seeks to circumvent armed conflict, was conceived out of fear of an insurrection instigated from abroad. Following the post-election uprising in Iran in 2009, cultural and media bodies revisited the theoretical framework of ‘soft defence’. The ‘soft defence’ model was finally published in 2021 by Ali Mohammad Naïni and Hossein Salami.
3) The takeover of the telecommunications sector
3) The takeover of the telecommunications sector
When the internet arrived in Iran in 1994, telecommunications were still beyond state control due to the growing role of private infrastructure. Following the 2009 protests, which were circulating on social media and the web, the Etemad-e Mobin Guardians consortium acquired an absolute majority stake in the Public Telecommunications Company and created a ‘domestic’ and centralised internet.
Points to note
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When faced with a challenging research environment, online sources (both digitised and born-digital sources) enable qualitative research to be carried out.
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Despite the state monopoly, Iran’s digital infrastructure is currently plagued by nepotistic management and outdated institutional communication.
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Staying close to the sources, including the internet, helps to maintain a historical perspective and avoid errors of analysis.
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There is a multi-scalar method of reading, constantly oscillating between a reading close to the source (with the naked eye, in its context) and a reading distant from the source (its circulation rather than its content).
Bibliography
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CLAVERT, Frédéric and FICKERS, Andreas. ‘On pyramids, prisms, and scalable reading’. Journal of Digital History. 2021, Issue 1.
CULL, Nicholas J. The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989. Cambridge University Press. 2008.
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LIMONIER, Kévin. « Chapitre 2. Les couches basses du cyberespace : contrôle des flux et cartographie d’Internet » (‘Chapter 2. The lower layers of cyberspace: controlling data flows and mapping the Internet’) in Céline MARANGÉ and Maud QUESSARD. Les guerres de l'information à l'ère numérique (Information Wars in the Digital Age). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 2021. Pages 63–78.
MAHROUG, Sophia. « Une histoire du Moyen-Orient par les sources numériques ? Méthodes et enseignements d’une historiographie en construction à partir du web iranien » (‘A History of the Middle East through Digital Sources? Methods and Lessons from a Historiography Under Construction Based on the Iranian Web’). Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée (Journal of the Muslim Worlds and the Mediterranean). 2024, vol. 156.
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QUESSARD, Maud. Stratégies d’influence et guerres de l’information : Propagande et diplomatie publique des États-Unis depuis la guerre froide (Strategies of Influence and Information Wars: US Propaganda and Public Diplomacy since the Cold War). Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. 2019. 378 pages. (Des Amériques).
The views and analyses expressed in this report are intended to reflect the interpretation of the seminar discussions. They are shared by the DÉCRIPT Programme team for purely informative and educational purposes, and in no way engage the responsibility of the speaker or that of their affiliated institution.
This series of events received government funding administered by the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the France 2030 programme, reference number ANR-24-RSHS-0002
