Reuters Has Ulterior Motives For Reporting That Iran Tipped Russia Off Before The Crocus Attack

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

This narrative is being pushed to deflect from the evidence tying Ukraine to the Crocus terrorist attack and to discredit the Russian security services…

Reuters cited three unnamed sources to exclusively report on Monday that Iran had allegedly tipped Russia off about a then-impending major terrorist attack after learning about it from ethnic Tajik ISIS-K terrorists who were detained after the group’s early January attack in Kerman. The information lacked specific details, but the outlet editorialized that “It is harder…for Russia to dismiss intelligence from diplomatic ally Iran on the attack” than from the West, the latter of which they claim that it downplayed.

Accordingly, Reuters wrote that this “raised questions over the effectiveness of Russian security services”, thus exposing the ulterior motive behind this report. The West has done all that it can to deflect from Russia’s accusations that Ukraine was tied to this terrorist attack via the evidence that its investigation has uncovered. This includes claiming that the vague warning that the US passed along to Russia was obtained from spying on ISIS-K, not on Kiev like this analysis here compellingly argues.

By including an Iranian dimension into the emerging narrative of early warnings ahead of the Crocus terrorist attack, the West via Reuters wants to further deflect from its own and Ukraine’s involvement in what happened while simultaneously discrediting the Russian security services. This analysis here debunks the false narrative that President Putin downplayed ISIS-K threats in the run-up to the attack, yet the West is doubling down on that claim, largely in response to evidence implicating Kiev.

To be sure, there’s a chance that one or some of those ethnic Tajik ISIS-K terrorists that Iran detained in January might have heard about the group’s plans to attack Russia, but that’s altogether different than them having knowledge of the then-impending Crocus plot. Russia already knows that it’s in that group’s crosshairs after they bombed its embassy in Kabul in September 2022. Without specific information, whether from Iran or anyone else, nothing on the home front would have changed in response to that.

For instance, Russia, the UK, or even a random social media person could vaguely claim that ISIS-K is planning to attack the US, which American officials themselves are already aware of but wouldn’t do anything differently on the home front upon being informed of the latest rumors. Likewise, it’s unrealistic to imagine that Russia would ramp up security at all large gatherings even if Iran told them that a detained ethnic Tajik ISIS-K terrorist might have claimed that the group is planning to attack it.

For what it’s worth, RT quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that “I do not know anything about this” when asked about Reuters’ report, so objective observers should be skeptical of it. He either wasn’t informed ahead of his media briefing that such vague information was allegedly passed along to Russia by Iran or it simply didn’t happen. It doesn’t matter which of these two is true though since it wouldn’t have made a difference either way for the reasons that were explained.

Promoting this unverified report from anonymous sources quoted by Western media is therefore only being done for the ulterior motives of deflecting from the evidence tying Ukraine to the Crocus terrorist attack and discrediting the Russian security services. Considering the driving force behind this latest report, it can be expected that more such stories might soon follow, and everyone should be equally skeptical of them as well while keeping in mind the narrative goals that they aim to advance.