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" I tried to HONOR the jersey and ENJOY it. CRISTIANO IS A CHILDHOOD IDOL FOR ME. 🤩 My children were also born on the 7th, so I am very happy. (…) What happened between Ronaldo and the national team does not concern us. We have once again shown that we are A GROUP. He is certainly at home and happy with the victory." (translated)

The Burkina Faso national team 🇧🇫 is still stuck in Morocco and has not yet joined Argentina 🇦🇷 while the match is scheduled for this weekend... On two occasions in recent days, the players were ready to leave the hotel with their luggage, but there has always been an issue related to the flight. As was the case against Mauritania last March, the Argentine Federation has hired a company (Eurodata Sport Ltd) managed by Jairo Pachon, a FIFA match agent, to handle the matches - the AFA paying the costs and travel but not giving any participation bonus or a share of the revenue generated by the match to its opponent. The proposed travel conditions are simple: a commercial flight (the cheapest possible). However, Mauritania had refused given the number of travel hours and had taken a private flight at its own expense. For Burkina Faso, uncertainty remains as the players have not trained while coach Amir Abdou wished for it. Time is now pressing to reach Buenos Aires... (translated)

Iran’s cognitive warfare – when AI becomes the operating layer of state propaganda Iranian state-linked influence operators were not using artificial intelligence simply to write faster social-media posts. According to Anthropic’s September 2026 threat intelligence report, three separate operations connected to Iranian propaganda institutions were using Claude to help construct the machinery behind what the operators themselves called “soft war” and “cognitive warfare” – non-military efforts intended to shape public opinion inside Iran and abroad. Anthropic linked the activity to the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization (ICCO), which operates under Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance; the Islamic Propaganda Office of Khorasan Razavi; and the Bina Cultural Observatory, part of the Islamic Propaganda Organization. The company said each operation was run by someone working within or on behalf of the named institution. The attribution was based on a combination of account telemetry, institutional references disclosed during conversations, branded documents and open-source corroboration. Anthropic subsequently removed the accounts. AI as an operational headquarters The most significant feature of the operation was the role assigned to AI. Claude was used to develop campaign plans, doctrine manuals, coded project portfolios, persona systems, target databases, early-warning protocols, amplification schedules and ministerial planning documents. Anthropic described the model as the principal administrative and operational layer supporting the three campaigns, allowing relatively small groups of operators to create organisational structures and planning material that would otherwise have required a much larger staff. This distinction matters. The reported use of AI went considerably beyond content generation. Operators were using the model to help organise how influence activity should function: which audiences to target, which identities should deliver particular narratives, how official material should be repackaged and when amplification should take place. Human operators still determined objectives and supplied the underlying political doctrine; AI helped translate those decisions into an operational system. Anthropic found that all three operations explicitly connected their activity to Jihad al-Tabyin, often translated as “explanatory jihad”, a concept used within the Iranian state system to frame information activity as both a strategic and ideological responsibility. In internal planning material examined by the company, this doctrine was not merely rhetorical: it informed manuals and campaign structures used by the operators. ‘Not the narrator, but the director’ One sentence contained in the ICCO material captures the model particularly clearly. According to Anthropic, an operator described the role of Iranian cultural attachés as being “not to be the narrator, but the director” of the narrative. The distinction reveals the logic of attribution laundering. Instead of publishing an overt state message and asking foreign audiences to believe it, the operator attempts to create the appearance that the same narrative emerged independently from journalists, activists, foreign writers or ordinary citizens. Anthropic found that Claude was used specifically to make content appear to come from foreign authors or independent media organisations and to design hashtag campaigns that looked grassroots rather than centrally organised. The ICCO operation reportedly used the organisation’s international cultural network as part of this structure. Anthropic found ministerial-level documents carrying official ICCO branding, including a nine-part international influence portfolio. This makes the operation particularly significant because the infrastructure was not limited to anonymous social-media accounts; it intersected with formal state institutions and an existing network of cultural representation abroad. A multilingual content factory A second operation was associated with the Islamic Propaganda Office of Khorasan Razavi and what Anthropic described as a “cognitive warfare command room” operating from a seminary in Mashhad. Its organisers ran a multi-province content production system known internally as Manjanegh, or “Catapult”. According to Anthropic, dozens of activists were involved in repackaging publicly available reporting from Iranian security institutions under different personas so that the material no longer appeared directly connected to those institutions. The network used Claude to transform official government intelligence bulletins into customised material in Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, Malay, Spanish and English, while planning expansion into a total of 20 languages. Distribution extended across Iranian platforms such as Eitaa, Bale and Rubika and international services including X, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok and YouTube. Anthropic also documented paid amplification across more than 100 Iranian channels, including channels associated with IRGC narratives. The scale should nevertheless be interpreted carefully. Anthropic documented production infrastructure and some real-world dissemination, but it did not demonstrate that all planned campaigns were fully deployed or that they meaningfully changed public opinion. The company placed the operation in Category Three of its Breakout Scale, indicating multi-platform activity with content observed in external distribution channels, rather than evidence of strategic impact on entire populations. From security bulletins to apparently independent voices The Bina Cultural Observatory operation provides another example of the same architecture. Anthropic linked a director-level official at Bina to activity in which Claude generated messaging in the voice of an IRGC spokesperson. During the 2026 US–Israel–Iran war, the network also attributed false claims to Western institutions including CSIS, Brookings and RAND. The apparent objective was to make Iranian state-aligned claims look as though they had been independently validated by respected foreign research organisations. That technique is more sophisticated than simply publishing propaganda under a false name. It attempts to manufacture a chain of external validation: official information is transformed into apparently independent commentary, which can then be recirculated as evidence that outside observers have reached the same conclusion. Anthropic also found target databases naming international officials and Iranian opposition figures, as well as aggressive counter-narrative material directed against the Bahá’í community. These findings show that the infrastructure was designed not only for broad messaging but also for targeted influence activity against specific groups and individuals. What AI changed The Iranian operations described by Anthropic did not create a new doctrine of influence. Iran has used cultural institutions, official media, aligned organisations and covert or semi-covert online networks for years. What AI changed was the economics and organisational capacity of that model. A relatively small team could use the system to draft doctrine, create personas, translate material, structure target databases, produce campaign calendars and generate multiple versions of the same message for different audiences. The operator remained responsible for intent, political direction and selection of targets. AI reduced the amount of human labour required to turn those decisions into a functioning influence operation. The most revealing part of the case is therefore not that an Iranian propaganda network used a chatbot. It is that AI was being treated as part of the back office of information warfare – a system for converting state doctrine into apparently decentralised, multilingual and plausibly independent voices. Sources Anthropic — Detecting and countering misuse of AI: September 2026 https://www.anthropic.com/threat-intelligence-report-september-2026 Iran International — Iran state-aligned accounts used Claude to push IRGC narratives https://www.iranintl.com/en/202609105561 BNE IntelliNews — Yemen missile cell used AI to write guidance software, Anthropic says https://new.intellinews.com/articles/yemen-missile-cell-used-ai-to-write-guidance-software-anthropic-says-467296 This is Beirut — Anthropic report details Iranian propaganda operations https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/news/politics/anthropic-report-details-iranian-propaganda-operations-and-yemen-missile-development-using-claude Anthropic report — PDF mirror https://static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2026/09/anthropic-detecting-and-countering-091026-1.pdf Keywords #DISINFORMED #Episode11 #Iran #IranianInfluence #IranianPropaganda #CognitiveWarfare #SoftWar #JihadAlTabyin #Disinformation #InformationWarfare #InfluenceOperations #ForeignInterference #FIMI #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AIPropaganda #GenerativeAI #ClaudeAI #Anthropic #SyntheticMedia #NarrativeManipulation #NarrativeLaundering #AttributionLaundering #PersonaNetworks #Astroturfing #SocialMediaManipulation #DigitalInfluence #StatePropaganda #IslamicCultureAndCommunicationsOrganization #ICCO #IslamicPropagandaOrganization #KhorasanRazavi #IRGC #MultilingualInfluence #Targeting #Amplification #OSINT #WRLD

Cristiano Ronaldo, after being a substitute in a match in Norway, decided to leave the Portuguese national team following the announcement of his absence from the starting eleven against Denmark, thus revealing the growing tensions between him and the coach Jorge Jesus. (translated)

🚨🇩🇪 Jürgen Klopp SHOUTS OUT after the racist comments targeting some German players following the defeat to Greece (0-1). 🤬 Some internet users notably considered that the team was "not German enough" or "not white enough." 🤮 🗣️ "It's madness when we see things like this. The world should take an example from a football locker room. There, everyone is respected. Period!" Klopp also assures that his group "could not get along better." ❤️‍🩹🇩🇪 (translated)

The end of CR7 with the national team contrasts so much with that of Messi as if it were inevitable and that it had to end this way. On one side, there is Messi who didn't force anything; if he had felt he was no longer able to contribute to his team, he would have stopped. (translated)

What had to happen happened: between a CR7 who did not have the courage to admit that he no longer had his place in the selection and selectors who did not have the courage to tell him so. Result: a farewell to international career that looks like a departure from the track. (translated)

🚨🚨💣 BIG CASE SURROUNDING MOHAMED "MOMO" SANHADJI, head of security for the French national team for over 20 years. 🇫🇷😳 The investigation revealed by L'Équipe describes how this man, who has become extremely close to many stars of French football, allegedly used his connections to obtain loans, gifts, trips, and personal services. Among the disclosed elements 👇 💰 To buy a house for €440,000, Sanhadji is said to have asked for money from about fifteen players. €215,000 was ultimately loaned to him, notably: • Kylian Mbappé, through Fayza Lamari: €120,000 • Raphaël Varane: €20,000 • Sabri Lamouchi: €20,000 • Laurent Blanc: €20,000 • Yann M’Vila: €15,000 • Mattéo Guendouzi: €7,500 🤫 He allegedly asked several to keep these loans secret, even writing: "otherwise I’m dead." 🦷 Fayza Lamari also supposedly paid €7,000 for his dental expenses. The Mbappé family also financed the travel of their sons' football club for a tournament and invited him and his family to PSG-Bayern in 2023, including a night at the Royal Monceau. 📲 His closeness with the Mbappé clan was such that Fayza Lamari supposedly went through him to send messages to Didier Deschamps, notably after Kylian Mbappé was not selected in the fall of 2024. She also allegedly asked him to intervene with the coach regarding Rayan Cherki. ✈️ Sanhadji also allegedly solicited several personalities to finance his vacations. After facilitating administrative procedures for relatives of Franck Ribéry, he was offered a stay in Sicily worth €6,000. 🇲🇦 Jamel Debbouze allegedly invited him to his riad in Morocco, with a driver and buggy, after Sanhadji secured a spot for his son in a highly sought-after training at Clairefontaine. 🎟️ In 2022, Patrice Evra allegedly offered him €10,000 if he managed to retrieve 80 tickets for the Champions League final Liverpool-Real Madrid at the Stade de France. 💶 Mattéo Guendouzi also allegedly considered donating part of his bonuses from the 2022 World Cup to the police accompanying the French team. Sanhadji allegedly asked him to keep it "very discreet" and to have it justified accountably. ⚖️ Mohamed Sanhadji is currently being charged and is under judicial control. Philippe Diallo explained to the investigators that his behavior was contrary to the ethical and deontological charter of the FFF. His entourage contests the interpretation of certain elements and indicates that he "will reserve his statements for the justice system." 🇫🇷 (translated)

"It’s a sad day for Portuguese football, for world football, and for us, Portuguese. THEY HAVE SET A TRAP FOR HIM. HE DID NOT DESERVE THAT. If they were not counting on Ronaldo, they should have told him before announcing the list. It was not necessary to get to this point. Everyone knows that a career ends one day. But this management has been inconsistent and disrespectful. He did not deserve to be treated this way. RONALDO WILL REMAIN RONALDO, EVEN IN A HUNDRED YEARS. We will always love him. If he returns here one day, we will welcome him with open arms and give him all our support. He deserves it." (translated)

🚨🚨 Walid ACHERCHOUR 🇫🇷 is SUING Cristiano RONALDO 🇵🇹 for his last years with Portugal who "HELD HOSTAGE" 👇 : "This final example shows that RONALDO FELT ABOVE THIS COUNTRY, THIS SELECTION, EVERYONE EVEN AT 41 YEARS OLD!!! 🥶 When we talked about HOSTAGE-TAKING, WE WERE IN REALITY. 😳 With the CR7 fans, we could not make a criticism about HIS BEHAVIOR, HIS EGOTISM... When he was put on the bench, it put immense pressure on the players and the coach... IT'S A TERRIBLE END. When we look at the end of Messi 🇦🇷, WE ARE ON TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLDS... RONALDO 🇵🇹 STAINED HIS LEGEND." (translated)