Analysis of Foreign Influence Legislation

Parliament approved the general outline of the bill to counter foreign influence,

a bill whose stated goal is to counter foreign influence and domination,

an issue naturally related to the country's

national security. In the previous part, we discussed Article

One of this bill, noting that one of the key issues with this article

is the use of certain broad concepts, such as

"facilitating foreign influence and domination." But to understand

exactly who and what interactions this law will apply to,

we must look at Article

Two. Unlike Article One,

it does not directly set prohibitions or penalties, but rather

defines the terms used throughout the rest of this law.

The first term is "foreign agent." The definition in the bill

does not only include foreign governments or intelligence services,

but any non-Iranian government, entity, institution,

or organization, as well as natural and legal persons

who are supported, employed, guided, supervised, or

under their direct or indirect guidance, fall under

this definition, whether inside Iran or outside

the country.

These definitions are important because, in subsequent articles, the term

"foreign agent" is repeatedly used, and as a result, the scope of this

term affects a significant portion

of the law. We now come to classifying foreign states into three

tiers.

A Tier One state is a government that, by law or with the approval of

the Supreme National Security Council, is recognized as a hostile state.

A Tier Two state is a government that has planned or carried out actions to

exert destructive influence, harm, undermine, or damage the national interests

of the Islamic Republic of Iran in political, economic,

social, or cultural dimensions.

The list of these states is prepared on the proposal of the Intelligence Ministry

and the IRGC Intelligence Organization and approved by the Supreme National Security

Council. And Tier Three states include governments

that in

are not on the Level One and Level Two lists. This classification

becomes more important later on, because in some articles,

the approach to foreign contacts is based on this categorization

and differs. However, the interesting part of Article Two is that

the legislator did not only talk about governments and intelligence

services. Next, the scope of activities that could

be subject to this law is also explained.

From economic and commercial activities and legal services,

to scientific and academic collaboration, publishing

books and articles, providing data and statistics,

media activities, collaborating with the media,

exchanging certain laboratory samples, and even

cultural and social activities, such as participating in training

courses, conferences, festivals, and producing

works of art. So Article Two is actually telling us

that when subsequent articles speak of activity or contact,

it doesn't just mean security and intelligence activities,

isn't, and a relatively broad spectrum can fall into this

framework. At the end, another important term

is defined:

The Online System for Registration, Management, and Oversight of

Foreign Relations. A system where activities with foreign agents

or foreign nationals are to be declared and registered.

So if we want to summarize Article Two very briefly, this article

defines the playing field of this law:

who is considered a foreign agent, how foreign governments

are categorized, and what activities fundamentally fall

within the scope of this law. Another important point is that many of

the restrictions and penalties we will see in the subsequent articles

depend on these definitions. In the next part, we will move to Article

Three to see what mechanisms this law has set up for interactions

of covered entities with foreign nationals and agents

for registration and approval.