Iran Is Spying on Dissidents in New Zealand, Intelligence Agency Says

New Zealand’s domestic intelligence agency says the Islamic Republic of Iran has engaged in “societal interference” in the country by “monitoring and providing reporting on Iranian communities and dissident groups.”

“Globally, Iran has sought to silence dissenting Iranian voices in response to perceived threats to the Islamic Republic,” the Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) says in its latest threat assessment report, which was made public for the first time.

“Such activity has historically been unlikely in New Zealand, although the NZSIS continues to assess the threat in light of Iran’s increasingly aggressive behaviour internationally,” it adds.

The report was published on August 11, a day after the German domestic intelligence agency warned Iranian dissidents living in Germany that they might be targeted by the Charming Kitten online espionage group.

Charming Kitten works by building trust with victims to the extent that they expose data on themselves and their online contacts in Iran, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said.

The attacks are mainly directed at dissident organizations and professionals who have contact with them, including legal practitioners, journalists or human rights activists, in Iran and abroad.

In its report, the NZSIS says that the most notable case of foreign interference in New Zealand is the continued targeting of the country’s Chinese communities by people with links to the intelligence arm of China’s ruling Communist Party.

China’s efforts to advance its political, economic and military involvement in the Pacific region was driving strategic competition, the NZSIS says, adding that it was aware and concerned about ongoing Chinese intelligence activity “in and against New Zealand.”

The report links Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to increased geopolitical competition, supply chain disruptions and efforts to spy on other countries and seed disinformation.

“Russia’s international disinformation campaigns have not targeted New Zealand specifically, but have had an impact on the views of some New Zealanders,” it says.