The Central Intelligence Agency offered help to potential informants in Iran on Tuesday (February 24, 2026), providing Farsi-language instructions on ways to safely contact the U.S. spy agency as U.S. President Donald Trump mulls possible military strikes.

The post is the latest in a series of recruitment pitches in Farsi, Korean, Russian and Mandarin that offered secure ways to contact the CIA. The Farsi-language message posted Tuesday (February 24) to X, Instagram and YouTube, however, comes at an especially uneasy time in U.S.-Iran relations and as the Iranian theocracy faces new protests at home.

The U.S. has assembled its largest military force in the West Asia in decades as tensions with Iran have risen. Mr. Trump threatened military action in January in response to the government’s fierce crackdown on national protests before shifting his focus to Iran’s disputed nuclear program and warning it to make a deal. Another round of nuclear talks is planned for later this week.

In a sign of new unrest in Iran, students held anti-government protests at universities in Tehran on Monday.

“Hello. The Central Intelligence Agency hears you and wants to help,” the agency wrote in the message, according to an English translation. “Here are some tips on how to make a secure virtual call with us.”

The Farsi-language post racked up millions of views within just a few hours.

The agency won’t say if earlier recruitment videos have resulted in tips or new sources, but Director John Ratcliffe has said the posts are having an impact.

“Last year, CIA’s Mandarin video campaign reached many Chinese citizens, and we know there are many more searching for a way to improve their lives and change their country for the better,” Ratcliffe said earlier this month when a new Mandarin video was posted.

The CIA’s tips include using a virtual private network, or VPN, to circumvent internet restrictions and surveillance, and the use of a disposable device that can’t easily be traced back to the user. The CIA also urged potential informants to use private web browsers and to delete their internet history to cover their tracks.

The instructions include ways to reach the CIA on its public website or on the darknet, a part of the internet that can only be accessed using special tools designed to hide the user’s identity. The CIA has also posted similar instructions in Russian.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the new video.

Iran’s Foreign Minister has arrived in Geneva ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United States, Iranian state television said Monday (February 16, 2026), as Washington keeps up pressure on the Islamic republic.

According to Tehran, “indirect” Iran-U.S. nuclear talks mediated by Oman will be held on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), although Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed including Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies.

Tehran and Washington restarted negotiations this month after previous talks collapsed when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran last June.

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the fate of Iran’s stockpile of more than 400 kilogrammes of 60-percent enriched uranium that was last seen by nuclear watchdog inspectors in June.

“The Foreign Minister has arrived in Geneva at the head of a diplomatic and expert delegation to take part in the second round of nuclear negotiation,” Iran’s state-run IRIB wrote on its Telegram channel.

During his visit to Geneva, Abbas Araghchi is expected to hold talks with his Swiss and Omani counterparts as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, and other international officials, Iran’s foreign ministry said.

Washington has dispatched Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the White House confirmed on Sunday (February 15, 2026).

The latest talks follow repeated threats from Trump of military action against Tehran, first over Iran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests, and then more recently over the country’s nuclear programme.

The West fears the programme is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies.

On Friday (February 13, 2026), Mr. Trump said a change of government in Iran would be the “best thing that could happen”, as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister told the BBC that Tehran would consider compromises on its uranium stockpile if Washington lifts sanctions that have crippled the Islamic republic’s economy.

“If we see the sincerity on their [American] part, I am sure we will be on a road to have an agreement,” said Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that any deal must involve the removal of all enriched uranium from Iran as well as Tehran’s ability to enrich more.

“There should be no enrichment capability… dismantle the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place,” he said during a speech in Jerusalem.

‘Viable’ deal

On February 6, Mr. Araghchi led the Iranian delegation in indirect talks with Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner in Muscat.

Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades.

It has represented U.S. interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said Tehran was seeking a deal with the United States that would generate economic benefits for both countries, particularly in sectors such as aviation, mining and oil and gas, the Fars news agency reported.

“For the agreement to be viable, it is essential that the United States also be able to benefit from it in areas with strong and rapid economic return potential,” he was quoted as saying.

Security chief Ali Larijani said Tuesday that Iran was open to nuclear talks with the United States but ruled out any restrictions on its missile programme.

“The path for negotiations with the US is not closed; yet these are the Americans who only pay lip service to talks and do not come to the table; and they wrongly blame Iran for it,” said Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“By raising unrealisable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path which negates any talks,” Larijani said in a post on X.

The remarks came days after the United States welcomed a move by European powers to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran but said it remained “available for direct engagement with Iran”.

Nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, which had begun in April, broke off in mid-June when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, swiftly followed by the United States.

On Thursday, Britain, France and Germany— the so-called E3 — triggered a “snapback” clause in the moribund 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and major powers that allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed in the event of non-compliance with its provisions.

That agreement effectively collapsed in 2018 when US President Donald Trump withdrew from it during his first term and restored crippling sanctions.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington seeks an “enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue” and that “snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy, it only enhances it.”

Following the Israeli and US attacks, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog and demanded guarantees against military action before resuming any negotiations.

Western governments have repeatedly voiced concern about Iran’s missile programme, calling it a threat to regional security.

In July, France called for a “comprehensive deal” with Tehran that covers not only its nuclear programme but also its missile programme and its regional ambitions.

Iran has insisted that its military capabilities are not up for negotiation.

Western governments suspect Iran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.