A speech by a man who is said to be an official of the Islamic Republic’s intelligence ministry suggests that the regime is in panic about opposition it faces. 

The audio recording leaked to media, which is full of bizarre remarks, seems to be from a session in which the unnamed speaker is talking about the nationwide protests that have not died down since September. 

Echoing conspiratorial propaganda by the regime’s authorities, the speaker blamed other countries for the protests, saying that a select group of protesters had been trained in the US bases in the region.

It appears that the orator is addressing a group of regime loyalists and his strange remarks give the impression of an almost desperate attempt to convince regime insiders that they are besieged by conspirators – an at one point in the speech – even by mythological beings.

He presented no evidence and did not explain how large protests formed is, as he says, only a handful were trained to foment unrest. 

“They selected special people from among them and took them to private [social media] channels and taught them urban warfare, for example making grenades,” he claimed, adding that "Among these special people, they chose even more special people and took them to the American bases in Jordan, Turkey and Erbil and trained them."

The intelligence ministry’s official made more bizarre claims, saying that the "training sessions" of these people in the American bases were "mixed-gender and they were provided with sexual attractions, drugs and alcohol."

He added that celebrities and influencers were taken to US bases in Turkey, where they signed contracts in dollars and euros to fight against the regime. 

He went on to say that during the protests out of every 200 people, five people were trained by the US. “In these five-member units, one person was in charge of chanting slogans, one person gathered people, one person killed security forces, one person set fire to a place, and one person broadcast the events live on Iran International and BBC,” he added. Following the escalation of protests across Iran, internet access was shut or slowed down regularly and no live broadcasts happened from inside the country. 

He also claimed that in the Iranian province of Kordestan "17,000 men and women” trained by Kurdish nationalist groups planned to attack five cities in the province. The Al-Ahwazi Arab Popular Democratic Front (APDF) also planned to launch an armed rebellion and attack the city of Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan in southwest Iran, the official told his audience. 

He also claimed that members of Jaish ul-Adl -- a Salafi Islamist militant organization that operates mainly in southeastern Iran – also sought independence in Sistan-Baluchestan province. He said that similar attacks were also planned by Iran’s Pan-Turkists. "The enemies worked for years on Pan-Kurdism, Pan-Turkism, Pan-Arabism and Pan-Baluchism,” he said.

Amid all these, the official did not explain how Iran’s multiple intelligence organizations missed all the preparations by alleged enemies and why there was no evidence of protesters taking up arms. 

Going to the realm of fiction, he said that “jinns” or malevolent mythological creatures also played a role in the current wave of protests. Jinn – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic culture and beliefs. “These jinns enter the bodies of unfaithful people and possess them,” he said, adding that during meetings with Islamic experts they found out that reciting the Quran and Islamic call to public prayer can scare them away. “Satellite dishes must be removed from homes because households that have satellites are frequented by evil jinns,” the official said.