When U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned on July 9 that “Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts,” the spymaster’s rare public statement included a caveat asserting that Americans protesting the Gaza conflict are doing so “in good faith.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered no such qualifier in his address to Congress two weeks later, dismissing the Gaza protestors as “Iran’s useful idiots.” Yet in asserting that Iran was financing some anti-Israel activism in America, Netanyahu likely spoke out of personal knowledge of how Tehran has sought to inflame social tensions within Israel itself. The truth is, the Islamic Republic has multiple nodes of influence that it uses to interfere in Western democratic policy debates.