LONDON: A documentary film set for release next month will show how Iran is the “No. 1 threat to the security of the US,” its makers said.
“Menace in Disguise” aims to convey how Iran — described in the film as “the largest sponsor of global terrorism” — is a potential destabilizing force in the US as well as the Middle East.
It was made by Margin Scope, a film company owned by the prominent Saudi lobbyist Salman Al-Ansari, who is based in Washington.
The 60-minute documentary includes interviews with diplomats and academics including James Smith, the former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and author Michael Ledeen.
Ledeen co-authored a book with Michael Flynn, who famously said the US is “officially putting Iran on notice” during his short-lived tenure as national security adviser in US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Other interviewees for the “Menace in Disguise” film include Joseph Adam Ereli, former deputy spokesman for the US Department of State and former ambassador to Bahrain, as well as Iranian-American thinkers such as Majid Rafizadeh, who also writes a column for this newspaper.
Al-Ansari told Arab News that “Menace in Disguise” shows “how the Iran regime is the biggest threat to the national security of the US and its interests in the region.”
While Iran’s claimed interference in the Middle East has been well documented, its threat to the US has been a “missing narrative” in the public sphere, Al-Ansari added.
“The radical Iranian regime is the main sponsor of global terrorism,” he said. “The main theme of the movie is to show the Iranian aggression against the US.”
The film, which will be in English but subtitled in other languages including Arabic, will “expose the relationship between the… Iranian regime with some of the militant, radical and terrorist groups like Daesh, Al-Qaeda, and definitely Hezbollah,” Al-Ansari said.
He said Margin Scope values integrity, adding that the claims made in the film are all backed up with evidence.
“We do not mention anything without having the proof about it,” he told Arab News.
Al-Ansari defended the fact that the film does not include commentators from the Iranian regime, saying that Tehran’s position as a sponsor of terror means this is not necessary. It would be like asking a Daesh spokesman to defend the militant group’s record, he argued.
“Nobody can criticize us for not having someone from the Iranian government (to defend its) position,” Al-Ansari said.
“Iran is the sponsor of most of the terrorist groups in the region… giving some logistical and financial support, and also harboring terrorists inside Iran… We are actually speaking of a terror state. And (so) having their point, or their stand is irrelevant.”
The film does, however, aim to convey the facts through a range of interviews with US diplomats and academics, Al-Ansari said.
A promo for “Menace in Disguise” has been viewed more than 60,000 times on YouTube. Al-Ansari said his company is in conversations with US channels as well as online documentary platforms, with a view to airing the film starting in March.
