Iran International
The curious case of Catherine Perez-Shakdam, a French-born Jewish woman who years ago met senior Iranian officials posing a sympathizer, has been revived in Tehran following a punishing war with Israel.
Iran is smarting from intelligence lapses in the 12-day war which allowed its arch-foe to assassinate top military figures and wreak havoc on bases and nuclear sites.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in the shock campaign last month.
The scale of the setback has sent bewildered officialdom searching for answers, and one Iranian lawmaker cited Shakdam's presence as a case study in infiltration.
Presenting herself as a Muslim convert and writer critical of Israel and the United States, Shakdam interviewed senior Iranian officials as a freelance journalist and attended various state-backed conferences on multiple visits up until 2017.
Iranian MP Mostafa Kavakebian said in a state TV interview last week that Shakdam was an Israeli spy who had slept with 120 senior officials, citing no evidence.
Speaking to Iran International, Shakdam was blunt about the remarks: “Not true, not possible, and completely absurd."
"They’re trying to destroy my character. I’ve got news for them — I do not give a shit. And you can quote me on this.”
Kavakebian's allegation drew fire online, where critics cited it as an example of poor logic, and even Iranian legal authorities who appeared eager to swiftly scotch discussion of the country's security failures.
Tehran’s prosecutor filed charges against Kavakebian for “disturbing public opinion,” calling the claims “unsupported" and summoned him to provide evidence.
State media outlet the West Asia News Agency (WANA), said the state had found no sign of espionage in Shakdam's case.
"Iran’s security and judicial bodies have explicitly stated that no documents or reports exist indicating immoral behavior, suspicious connections or illegal activities by Shakdam during her time in Iran."
Double life
Shakdam now works as a political analyst and spokesperson for an Israeli advocacy group We Believe In Israel.
She first drew the attention of Iranian authorities after publishing an opinion piece in the English-language Yemen Observer newspaper criticizing US intervention in Iraq. In 2009, she had moved to Yemen after marrying a Yemeni man.
The couple had two children before later divorcing. Her writings and public commentary eventually led to an invitation to appear on Iranian state TV as a Western voice critical of US foreign policy — a platform that opened the door to extraordinary access within Iran’s political elite.
That access, she says, revealed a system obsessed with propaganda and deeply rooted anti-Semitism.
“If you want to call me a master spy — yes, of my own agency, okay?” she told Iran International. “I went there on my own two feet. No one asked me to do anything.”
Her mission, she says, was self-assigned — but it came at a steep personal cost.
“Ten years of hard work, ten years of pretending and playing the game, and ten years of almost losing myself — because you reach a point where you don't know where you begin and the lie ends.”
During her time in Iran, she says she met top figures including Ebrahim Raisi before he became president and later died in a helicopter crash, Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
With dark humor, she recalled: “I had a little chat with Soleimani — obviously before he died because I don’t speak to ghosts. Raisi, obviously … Nader Talebzadeh many times. He died too. Not of my doing, okay. I had nothing to do with that.”
She joked that if she were a spy, she must be “00 Fluffy” — her own spin on 007, due to her owning many pet cats.
Warnings
The humiliation of Iran's military losses appears to be playing out in Iran's seemingly permanent power struggle between reformists and hardliners.
WANA characterized MP Kavakebian's TV outburst as an attempt to undermine hardliners who had welcomed Shakdam into their midst after foreign attacks last month failed to deliver the upheaval moderates supposedly seek in Iran.
"The lack of Iranian public support for Israel’s attack—even among those critical of the ruling system and governance quality in Iran—and the refusal to participate in street unrest, went against the expectations of pro-Western reformists inside the country."
"Perhaps the 'Mossad spy' story in Iran is not a bad place to start attacking a rival," WANA added. "Still, it must not be forgotten that the biggest beneficiaries of any internal division in Iran are those sitting in Tel Aviv."
Shakdam believes she was targeted because she is more visible and critical of Iran than ever following the 12-day war. Shakdam says the attack is rooted in the Islamic Republic’s deep-seated sexism and aimed at silencing outspoken women.
But after a decade of deception and backlash, she says she has no regrets.
“I just made a decision to do something with my life. And I did it. And I came out. And I’m proud of it.”
The latest assessment, which showed that Fordow was set back as long as two years, was briefed to US lawmakers, Defense Department officials and allied countries in recent days.
NBC also reported that an initial plan presented to US President Donald Trump involved three more sites, but the operation would have taken weeks, leading him to scale back the scope due to the risk of casualties on both sides and the fact that it was at odds with his foreign policy to extract the US from conflicts abroad.
“We were willing to go all the way in our options, but the president did not want to,” one of the sources with knowledge of the plan said.
The US strikes targeted three enrichment sites in Iran, Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Trump was quick to call the strikes “a spectacular military success” and said, “Iran’s key enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."
Israel has not ruled out further attacks on the two less damaged sites. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News last week that “it’s not over”.
Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching uranium to 60% U-235, a level that causes "serious concern," according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
The IAEA has consistently maintained that there is no credible civilian use for uranium enriched to this level, which is a short technical step from weapons-grade 90% fissile material.
Iran has always said its nuclear program is purely for peaceful, civilian purposes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
A former top UN nuclear official told Eye for Iran podcast that a nuclear Iran is still possible despite US and Israeli strikes on key nuclear sites as the whereabouts of Tehran's near-weapons grade uranium remains unknown.
Around 400 kilograms—more than 900 pounds—of uranium enriched to 60% purity is unaccounted for and now with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) barred from the country, it is unsure if the location can ever be known.
Former Deputy Director General of the IAEA, Olli Heinonen, warned: “One should not relax because this material as such is enough for 10 nuclear weapons if it is enriched further to 90%. So in a big picture, yes, Mr Trump was correct, but it should have had this caveat that it's not yet over.”