Iran media plans stir talk of elite Guard force at helm

Sometime early next year, a new voice is expected to join Iran's state-sanctioned media blitz: a full-service news agency with video, photos and print.

The arrival of another government-backed news outlet is not much of a surprise. It fits into Iran's two-pronged media strategy: controlling its message with a constant flow of statements, trial balloons and news items while trying to muzzle those who disagree, including new plans to now police the Internet for opposition sites.

What's being closely watched is how much control could be taken by the Revolutionary Guard — already the most powerful single institution in the country.

“The war of ideas will be intensified,” said Ehsan Ahrari, an analyst on regional affairs at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

A brief announcement last month on plans for the news operation, called Atlas, gave no hint of who will be in charge. But there's growing speculation among analysts that it could mark a breakout moment for the Revolutionary Guard after years of apparent behind-the-scenes influence over some of Iran's main news outlets.

Such a move would widen the Guard's sway over Iran's most strategic affairs — including its international media spin — and further suggest that the ruling clerics are ceding more authority to the Guard during a time of unprecedented internal crisis.

It also would give the Guard a powerful tool to expand the kind of bargaining-by-media used recently by Iran to float proposals and issue statements in wrangling with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.

A possible media wing directly under the Revolutionary Guard would not be a stretch.

The semiofficial Fars news agency and the conservative newspaper Javan, or Young, are considered closely aligned with the Guard. But all the major state-backed news outlets rarely stray from the views of the Guard's commanders and hard-line loyalists.

No specific launch date has been announced for Atlas, which officials have said will carry news in Farsi, English and Arabic. Some reports have speculated its debut could come in March, which marks the Iranian new year. Few other details have been revealed, and authorities did not respond to requests by The Associated Press for interviews with officials involved in Atlas.

The news comes as Iran intensifies its clampdown on what's left of opposition sites on the Web.

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