A look at the history of the Rothschild conspiracy theory, at IranWire:
Rothschild-based conspiracy theories are popular all over the world, including in Iran. From the 1960s and due in no small part to the speeches of Ayatollah Khomeini, a number of baseless claims were circulated about Jews in Iran. The Rothschild conspiracy theory was co-opted into this narrative. Targeting Iran’s relations with Israel was one of the main thrusts in Khomeini’s campaign against the then-Shah of Iran, and eliciting the idea of a global “cabal” spearheaded by Jews helped to unite Iranians.
Iran’s so-called Jewish Studies Center regularly produces antisemitic, anti-Israeli and anti-Baha’i articles and papers. During Khomeini’s early campaign it published an article falsely claiming that Abbas Afandi – better known as Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the Baha’i faith – had worked with members of the Rothschild family in the project to settle Jews in Palestine, thereby playing a central role in the creation of the State of Israel. The idea that these two minority groups were conspiring together became entrenched in the rhetoric of the time, and has helped justify the mistreatment of Jews and Baha’is in Iran ever since.
Decades later the Rothschild conspiracy theory was still being touted by prominent individuals and official mouthpieces in Iran. The newspaper Kayhan, whose managing editor is appointed by Iran’s hardline Supreme Leader, regularly circulates outrageous accusations against Jews and Baha’is in a series of features entitled Discovery of Conspiracy Networks. These articles often provide intelligence and security officials with the justification they need to bring trumped-up charges against Iranian intellectuals, writers and artists.
In 2008, Kayhan published an article about Lord Victor Rothschild (1910-1990). It claimed that his career trajectory “shows the unbelievable role played by the Rothschild family in Western intelligence services”.
“Lord Victor Rothschild played a major role in supporting Mossad and its transformation into one of the most powerful spy agencies,” it wrote. “At this time, a member of the Rothschild dynasty by the name of General Daniel Rothschild is at the helm of Mossad.
“It was the Rothschilds who promoted Palestine as the Promised Land among wealthy Jews and Jewish intellectuals – whereas, at the time, many Jews had no particular land in mind and some were thinking about America or even southern Africa. Eventually, it was with the Rothschilds’ financial support and political influence that this conspiracy was realized and led to the establishment of Israel in the Middle East.”
And our very own Norman Lamont makes a surprise appearance:
The Rothschild conspiracy theory also came to the fore in Iran after the signing of the nuclear agreement with the US in 2015, this time to undermine the validity of the accord as well as the position of Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani. Following what should have been a historic accord, the hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei wasted no time in warning that the US wanted to exploit the arrangement to "infiltrate” Iran along with Israel. Media outlets affiliated with Iran’s security and intelligence agencies promptly spewed forth a torrent of articles about “infiltrators”. The news website Mashregh published several articles about foreign businessmen visiting Tehran during this period. One was about Norman Lamont, the UK’s commercial representative to Tehran and chairman of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce.
“Many analysts in the UK consider Lamont an agent of the Rothschild family for destroying the British economy so that this Masonic-Zionist family can strengthen its grip on the financial arteries of this country,” wrote Mashregh, painting Lamont as a despised character in Britain since his tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer. “Of course, it appears that Lamont was paid well for carrying out this mission. Immediately after he was removed from office he started working as a senior director for the Rothschild financial empire.”
The article went on to proclaim Lamont’s business career had begun in the mid-1980s “as a banker for the Zionist financial empire of Rothschild and Sons... Responsible officials must explain to the public why and for what mission such an individual is in Iran, somebody with such a past whose ties with Zionism through the Rothschild family cannot be denied.”
The article did not name the “analysts in the UK” who supposedly believed Lamont sabotaged the British economy during his tenure as Chancellor. Lamont was a curious target; not only had he left his early investment banking career at N M Rothschild & Sons as early as 1972, when he first became an MP, but he has a long track record of opposition to sanctions and external meddling in Iranian affairs, saying in a 2006 interview: “The history of Iran has been interfered with by foreign countries”. An Anglo-Iranian group he formerly directed, Balli Group, is still under investigation in Britain for selling aircraft to Iran in 2010 in defiance of US sanctions.
Ha. A cunning cover, obviously, to throw off suspicions as to his real motives.
If Lamont's wrecking of the British economy was at the behest of his Rothschild banking masters, then how to explain the wrecking of the Iranian economy under the ayatollahs? Who are the real shadowy figures behind Khomeini and Khamenei? I think we should be told.
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