Turning Point Iran

Dear Colleagues,

For months now we’ve sounded the alarm against USAGM attacks and unlawful attempts to withhold Congressionally approved funding from U.S. international media. We’ve made the case in defense of America’s voice in the Middle East in articles, essays, interviews, and podcasts in The New York Post, National Review, RealClearPolitics, The Times of Israel, Ha’aretz, and Jewish Insider.

Here’s MBN chairman Ryan Crocker on the vital connection between America soft power and hard national security objectives. Ryan’s our board chair. He’s also six-time ambassador and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Iran expert Ilan Berman was on Fox over the weekend on the Iran-Israel conflict. Ilan led the Trump administration’s transition team at USAGM back in January. Ilan is an ally — and a member of both the MBN and the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) boards. Here’s my piece from March arguing that soft power disarmament against Iran would be unwise.

And here’s USAGM’s Kari Lake scrambling three days ago to try to restore the Persian service of Voice of America. Together with DOGE, Ms. Lake has been relentless in her crusade against U.S.-funded international media. The Lake-DOGE duo has decimated VOA and by now badly hobbled MBN, RFA, and RFE/RL.

Ms. Lake is now expected to intensify her attacks on U.S.-funded international media in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 25.

In our region, all this had been a gift to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis. It’s salad days for our competitor, Qatari-funded Al Jazeera. Nature abhors vacuums. The Iranian regime recently decided to increase its budget for (dis)information and media operations abroad by 50 percent.

Turning Points — and Iran

Last week, the international Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors passed a resolution finding Iran in noncompliance with its Safeguards Agreement, a crucial part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran announced promptly in response a major expansion of its nuclear-breakout capability. Israel responded with military force.

Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Tehran’s military leadership, and the country’s energy infrastructure may well turn out to be a transformative moment in the Middle East. For audiences across the Arab Middle East, this is the MBN story. On June 25 on Capitol Hill, there ought to be discussion of critical stories we’re missing due to glaring malpractice. Ms. Lake and her team forced us to terminate 90 percent of our staff in April.

Nevertheless: MBN coverage of events since last Thursday has been superb. Top interviews have included former U.S. Assistant Secretary (and Brigadier General) Mark Kimmitt, analyst Tom Gross, retired UK Colonel Richard Kemp, former Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata, ex-U.S. diplomat Alan Eyre, the Middle East Institute’s Alex Vatanka, and the Washington Institute’s Farzin Nadimi. Natan Sharansky is on deck.

Last week, we created a dedicated, cross-platform live coverage campaign that resulted in record-breaking growth in audience engagement reach, and visibility across Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube, and the Alhurra site. Our coverage is picked up regularly by the Arab news aggregators app “Nabd.” Our video views are up 599 percent.

Our most read article: “The General who planned to break America and Israel.” The June 13 Israeli airstrike that killed Major General Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was the most stunning strike on a senior Iranian leader since the assassination of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in early 2020. Before his death, Hossein Salami had reveled in the determination “to cleanse the planet of [American and Israeli] filth.”

Purpose

Conflict with Tehran’s tyrannical rulers underscores once again the need for a clear and responsible American voice in the world to counter the spies, lies, and disinformation of U.S. adversaries. Iran uses fake news and propaganda to erode trust, undermine democratic politics, destabilize economies, and promote anti-American narratives. Recently, Tehran-based publications were pushing the false claim that popular Iranian singer-songwriter Andranik Madadian had been unjustly detained by the National Guard in Los Angeles.

It remains entirely unclear why some here in Washington want to kill crucial instruments of American soft power and influence. MBN’s voice in the Middle East and North Africa matters. We’ll keep fighting. We simply cannot gift an open field to America’s worst enemies.

My heartfelt thanks to you for staying the course. Under exceptionally demanding circumstances, you’re doing truly remarkable work.

With respect, Jeff