Since the October 7 massacre, Israel has expanded its campaign beyond military commanders to include what senior Israeli officials call the “engineers of consciousness” — the spokesmen and propaganda operatives of the Iran-led terror axis.
According to senior security sources, these figures played a major role in shaping Israeli and Arab public opinion through incitement, blood libels, false narratives, and repeated accusations that Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some were well-known public spokesmen, while others operated behind the scenes, helping build and run the propaganda machine of Iran and its proxies across the Middle East.
Israeli officials say the goal was to weaken the axis’s ability to influence the Arab street, coordinate messaging, and sustain psychological warfare during wartime. Over the course of the war, Israel reportedly eliminated several central figures in this effort.
Among them was Mohammad Ali Nayini, spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed on March 20. Since July 2024, Nayini had served as the official public face of the IRGC while also overseeing messaging and perception warfare. Israeli officials describe him as one of the architects of Iran’s psychological warfare efforts.
