How US-Funded NGOs and Media Turned Iran’s Protests Into a Regime Change Campaign

Western media portrayed Iran’s protests as a democratic uprising crushed by state violence. But behind the headlines lies a familiar regime change playbook. In this MintCast episode, Mnar Adley is joined from Tehran by Seyed Mohammad Marandi, professor at the University of Tehran, to examine how U.S.-funded NGOs, intelligence-linked narratives, and corporate media helped reframe economic protests into a foreign-backed destabilization campaign. The conversation breaks down the role of Human Rights Activists in Iran, its funding by the National Endowment for Democracy, and the historical continuity between today’s information war and past CIA-led regime change operations in Iran. Support the show MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch , YouTube , Twitter and Instagram .

You can listen to How US-Funded NGOs and Media Turned Iran’s Protests Into a Regime Change Campaign online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

How US-Funded NGOs and Media Turned Iran’s Protests Into a Regime Change Campaign is an episode from MintCast by MintPress News.

This episode is 61:19 long.

This episode was published on Jan 23, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from MintCast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.