The article by war propagandist Aryn Baker states “conspiracy theories are nothing new in the Middle East.” Baker squarely places responsibility for the declared conspiracy theory on Iran. According to Baker, the Iranians claim the ISIS offensive currently underway in Iraq is “part of a U.S.-backed plot to destabilize the region and protect Israel.”
Baker reports IRNA and the Tehran Times believe NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was responsible for uncovering details about operation Beehive, also translated as Hornet’s Nest, which is described as a joint U.S., British and Israeli effort to “create a terrorist organization capable of centralizing all extremist actions across the world.”
Baker concludes there is no evidence within the Snowden trove of any such plot. She chalks the accusation up to another baseless internet rumor. “Yet Iranian government officials and independent analysts in Iran alike cited IRNA’s report as definitive proof of ISIS’s American and Israeli origins,” she writes.
Evidence of IRNA and the Tehran Times, however, making the claim is suspiciously absent. “Regrettably, not knowing the date of IRNA’s scoop, or being able to view its text online, complicates investigation,” writes Alan Kurtz.
Kurtz traces responsibility for the “Snowden Hoax” to a German website, www.shababek.de, and Kareem al-Baidani. A photo of al-Baidani is used on the Facebook page of Abosamir Albaidani, identified by Kurtz as “an Iraqi Shiite writer based in Munich, Germany” who may or may not be associated with an al-Alam television show, Iraq Today. Al-Alam is an Arabic news channel broadcasting from Iran by the state-owned media corporation Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
