The Central Intelligence Agency seal is displayed at the entrance to CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia, on September 24, 2022.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has issued an unusual call to Iranians to contact them as potential informants, signaling a possible intensification of U.S. efforts to gather military and civilian intelligence amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
The CIA posted a Persian-language recruitment post on X, Instagram, and YouTube on Tuesday, offering potential informants a way to contact the agency to safely share information.
“Hello, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hears you and wants to help you,” the post read, according to an English translation, and urged people with “classified information” or “unique skills” to contact the agency.
The post was accompanied by a video detailing ways to contact someone anonymously and securely, including using the dark web (a hidden part of the internet accessed using an anonymizing browser).
“Your safety and well-being is our top priority. Please consider your personal circumstances and take the necessary safety precautions to protect yourself,” the CIA said, adding that “all information received from volunteers will be treated as completely confidential.” X’s post had been viewed 3.4 million times as of Wednesday morning.
The post is seen as a highly unusual move by the CIA to recruit informants and collect information in the Islamic Republic, although U.S. intelligence agencies have previously posted similar messages in Russian, Korean, and Mandarin urging information sharing.
The group said in 2024 that it did this because “authoritarian states around the world restrict people’s access to information, freedom of movement and communication.” As a result, the CIA added, “people in these regions often do not have access to Western social media, making it extremely difficult to speak out, and telling the truth often has serious consequences.”
The Farsi-language call comes amid heightened tensions with Iran, with the United States currently in talks with the country aimed at halting the progress of its nuclear program.
The United States has built up a major military presence in the Middle East in recent weeks, warning that it is prepared to attack Iran if it does not agree to stop its efforts to build nuclear weapons. Officials in Washington and Tehran are scheduled to hold further nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday.
President Trump touched on Iran in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, saying, “We’re negotiating with Iran. They want a deal, but I haven’t heard the secret words, ‘We’ll never have nuclear weapons.'”
“My hope is to resolve this issue through diplomacy. But one thing is for sure: we will never allow the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism to acquire nuclear weapons.”
CNBC has contacted Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a response to President Trump’s comments.
Iran spoke out about the prospects for a deal this week, saying it was “within reach.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media on Tuesday that his country would resume talks with the United States in Geneva this week “with a determination to reach a fair and impartial agreement in the shortest possible time.”
—CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
