DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — When Ellie, a British-Iranian living in the United Kingdom, tried to call her mother in Tehran, a robotic female voice answered instead.
“Alo? Alo?” the voice said, then asked in English: “Who is calling?” A few seconds passed.
“I can’t heard you,” the voice continued, its English imperfect. “Who you want to speak with? I’m Alyssia. Do you remember me? I think I don’t know who are you.”
Ellie, 44, is one of nine Iranians living abroad — including in the U.K and U.S. — who said they have gotten strange, robotic voices when they attempted to call their loved ones in Iran since Israel launched airstrikes on the country a week ago.
They told their stories to The Associated Press on the condition they remain anonymous or that only their first names or initials be used out of fear of endangering their families.
Five experts with whom the AP shared recordings said it could be low-tech artificial intelligence, a chatbot or a pre-recorded message to which calls from abroad were diverted.
It remains unclear who is behind the operation, though four of the experts believed it was likely to be the Iranian government while the fifth saw Israel as more likely.
Only the second most terrifying story I’ve read today
Not so sure about Iran. I have looked for unambiguous quotes from them but can only find kooky religious stuff about Mahdism which is kind of like extremist Christians with their second coming madness.
Well educated Iranians seem to be Atheist whereas even intellectuals in Israel can be right wing religious nuts.
Certainly Iranian proxy groups like Hamas have unambiguously calked for a global caliphate
“Hamas, which is widely recognized as an Iranian proxy, has leaders and official rhetoric that go beyond the goal of liberating Palestine and at times explicitly reference the ambition of establishing a global Islamic caliphate.“
“On December 1, 2023, senior Hamas official Fathi Hammad declared on Al-Aqsa TV that the Palestinians are preparing to establish an Islamic caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. He and other Hamas leaders have repeatedly stated that the liberation of Palestine is just a prelude to bringing all Islamic countries—and eventually the entire world—under Islamic rule, referencing the conquest of Rome and America as future goals”
https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-leaders-our-goal-establishment-global-islamic-caliphate-not-just-liberation-palestine
For the record, my housemate of two years in Australia is Iranian. I also make music with an Iranian in Mashhad via the Internet (we jam electronic music). He is an extreme loner but tells me what society is like there.