Iran's parliament is trying to turn fears of foreign infiltration into law. But as lawmakers work through the legislation, the debate is exposing an increasingly awkward question for the Islamic republic: How far should the state go in policing Iranians' contact with the outside world?At the center of that debate is Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who, at least publicly, is doing a balancing act. He has defended the need for tougher measures against foreign infiltration while warning that the current draft of the legislation goes too far."No patriot opposes countering foreign infiltration," Qalibaf said during a recent parliamentary session. But, he added, lawmakers needed to ensure that people's "rights, their lives, and their trade" were not affected.
He said security agencies may need to be able to vet Iranians' contacts with foreigners but that they cannot demand permission at every stage."They say they want to be certain, to have permission sought from them at every stage," the conservative speaker said. "That's not possible, because then we'd have to lock the country down."That balancing act gets to the heart of a bill that was conceived as a wartime response to genuine security failures. The two recent wars exposed how deeply Israeli intelligence had penetrated Iran and prompted calls for tougher measures to identify and prevent foreign influence.But what began as a security response has evolved into a much broader fight over the boundaries of the Islamic republic's security state.The bill, formally called the Plan To Counter The Infiltration Of Intelligence Services And Foreign Governments Or Institutions but commonly referred to as the "infiltration bill," would require Iranians to obtain prior approval from the Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization before engaging in a sweeping range of activities.Those activities include publishing books or articles, academic cooperation, interviews with foreign media deemed "hostile," and participation in scientific conferences or arts festivals. The bill also includes provisions criminalizing interviews, discussions, and other communication with media deemed hostile, as well as sending photographs, videos, audio, or other material to foreign media, with violations punishable by prison terms of up to two years.Parliament approved the bill's general framework in mid-August by a lopsided 183-4 vote. The draft has since expanded from 19 to 33 articles as it has moved through the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.Only its first two articles have so far cleared the floor, while the remaining provisions remain subject to revision. Even if parliament approves them, the bill will still require Guardian Council approval before it can become law.The political resistance, however, has already begun.
