DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — When Ellie, a British-Iranian living in the United Kingdom, tried to call her mother in Tehran, a robotic female voice answered instead.
“Alo? Alo?” the voice said, then asked in English: “Who is calling?” A few seconds passed.
“I can’t heard you,” the voice continued, its English imperfect. “Who you want to speak with? I’m Alyssia. Do you remember me? I think I don’t know who are you.”
Ellie, 44, is one of nine Iranians living abroad — including in the U.K and U.S. — who said they have gotten strange, robotic voices when they attempted to call their loved ones in Iran since Israel launched airstrikes on the country a week ago.
They told their stories to The Associated Press on the condition they remain anonymous or that only their first names or initials be used out of fear of endangering their families.
Five experts with whom the AP shared recordings said it could be low-tech artificial intelligence, a chatbot or a pre-recorded message to which calls from abroad were diverted.
It remains unclear who is behind the operation, though four of the experts believed it was likely to be the Iranian government while the fifth saw Israel as more likely.
Only the second most terrifying story I’ve read today
As someone born in Iran, trying to reach family yielded the same results. An AI voice picks up the phone and talks about hope, but not in a religious or war timed thing, more budhist zen definition of hope. It’s surreal. Other than that, a discord server with almost 7k members had 20 people online (who are probably not in Iran). Communications have been almost completely been broken off.
talks about hope in English or Farsi?
In English.
Not sure how long they’ll work, but here’s the direct link to the audio from the article.
https://public.flourish.studio/uploads/2281856/4a7cec60-ca22-4eb3-9590-80874d2f9b84.wav
https://public.flourish.studio/uploads/2281856/f54efe40-97a4-428f-8019-04edd7451c82.wav
The second on is creepy as all hell
This almost seems like a Black Mirror episode
This is chilling
From Venezuela living abroad, had the same output on a different situation.
Family was traveling to EU from Caracas, called directly without texting first via cell phone to get an idea of how ready they where to depart and all the anticipation for the trip and boom, seems like someone I don’t know is handling the phone.
Thoughts racing on my head: we’re they kidnapped, were they kidnapped? What is actually happening?
I tried to reach out using other providers and even going trough a landline, same output. A voice saying they’ll get to the phone soon and calling them to come and pick up the device. Super unsettling.
Then my wife’s phone rang via WhatsApp and it was them, they were there saying are ready for the trip and that all was on track unbeknownst to all the events.
So, without going into a lot of detail I think is by design from the current administration of narco dictatorship in Venezuela. A friend’s and family VoiP company loyal to their leaders routing by default on their own carrier once the calls go onshore within their network.
A way to make money out of this is routing calls trough a maze of providers of their own to catch a “a quarter a minute” and spread unsettling thoughts on the general population who has family abroad.
After this we all started a group on Signal and hoped for a better way to communicate privately.
Consider getting VoIP phone numbers from a jurisdiction that’s much less hostile, so you have another number available to use
The article criticized the closing of the Internet by Tehran, but the Internet is clear vulnerability that can be exploited in times of war.
It’s also something that allows people to organize to overthrow an oppressive authoritarian regime.
But this particular authoritarian regime is apparently good because they want to wipe Israel off the map, so I guess we need to pretend everything they do is for the best.
thanks CIA
As a non American I thought it was someone from FBI or NSA.
With all those agencies I’m getting confused who has to post what on social media
Could be Eglin Airforce base
Motherfucker: who started the war
Iran, look what they were wearing!
Then they stole all those expensive bombs with their devious residential buildings and science facilities!
Are greater power responsible for the actions of their proxies?
Before you answer, remember the answer to that question applies to both sides in this conflict.
What proxy? Israel bombed Iran unprovoked directly, no proxy there.
I mean, they are someone’s proxy.
Is Iran responsible for what Hamas does with the weapons and munitions they supply them?
Is the US responsible for what Israel does with the weapons and munitions they supply them?
Do you have the same answer for both of these questions?
I’m not the person you’re replying to, but I’m genuinely curious to understand your point of view.
For what it’s worth, my personal answer to those questions is the same for both questions, I think - “mostly”.
I think the US is ultimately the one to blame for the vast majority of conflict around the world, as they’ve been destabilising fledgling democracies, installing puppet governments, supplying tons of weapons, assassinating leaders, generally manipulating and bullying many countries for many decades. In general I think the US is the world’s biggest bully, and has a ton of rich people who profit from war, and the middle east has been one of their many warmongering playgrounds for a long time, sadly.
However, I do also think both Iran and Israel are really shitty, for many reasons - from what I’ve seen as an outsider who has never been to either place, both countries seem to have a long standing, deep rooted racially motivated hatred towards one another, and both are very willing and eager to use force and start wars. Not to mention the variety of human rights abuses in both countries.
So basically I think “everyone sucks here”, but I do think the US is ultimately responsible for most of the conflict. They’ve been meddling in Iran for decades, and Israel has been essentially an extension of the US’s usual bullying for decades, unfortunately accelerated by Netanyahu’s excitement to escalate and expand their territory through genocide and settlement, supported by US and various other western countries’ military supplies…
I’ve seen a few of your messages recently and it seems like you’ve got a lot of anger, but I’m confused about who it’s directed at and why 😅
Would you be willing to explain your point of view on the conflict, or link me to a post where you’ve already explained it?
I’m not angry… are you sure you’re not angry?
I have concerns that people on this site where everyone is winding each other up with stochastic terrorism talk universally agreeing that certain countries are evil (and some posts indicate some believe everyone in these countries are evil too). There’s a lot of dehumanizing Israelis, and I’ve met few Israelis in my travels, perfectly normal people to talk to and have a beer with or whatever. Israelis aren’t evil colonizers, they’re people born in an area where a lot of people around them hate them for exiting in that area.
So basically I think “everyone sucks here”, but I do think the US is ultimately responsible for most of the conflict. They’ve been meddling in Iran for decades, and Israel has been essentially an extension of the US’s usual bullying for decades
Well it takes two to tango doesn’t it? Well there’s a lot to untangle about this, it’s the Middle East shit’s always complicated.
For the Iran conflict… kinda. But Iran has responsibility too. In his first term, Trump cancelled the agreement that Obama made with Iran. Countries don’t declare war but they give signals like cancelling treaties and start making ultimatums. Trump did all that in his first term. But the thing with Trump is, he’s an idiot. So Trump essentially declared war on Iran and then… didn’t do the war. And then he assassinated an Iranian General which is an act of war. And then didn’t have a war.
There’s levels of stupid to unpack here. First it would be stupid for the US to go to war with Iran as long as they were following the treaty, which all reports indicate they were. But if you make all the moves to start a war, you’re kinda committed and it’s stupid to not have a war after you committed to it. So Trump created a big mess there.
So it’s kinda strange to assign blame to the US because it was all Trump’s incompetence. But I guess Trump was and is the President, so I guess the US (Trump) is responsible for making a mess of a diplomatic agreement that the US (Obama) made with Iran. That sounds so stupid without indicating the Presidents, but here we are. I can’t stress enough how much of an idiot Trump has been. The US doesn’t have a cohesive foreign policy anymore.
But we can’t ignore Iran’s responsibility in this. They have been supporting a lot of terrorist organizations, including Hamas which massacred Israeli villages, took hostages to Gaza forcing Israel into a ground war in a densely populated urban environment. Hamas tactics are designed to maximize Palestinian civilian casualties in attempt to foment hatred toward Israel. Hamas won the propaganda war, though they’ll probably be destroyed along with a significant part of Gaza. But but they successfully spread of Israel so that’s a win?
So Hamas is responsible for the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas is Iran’s proxy, so Iran is complicit in that. And that brings us back to the Israel-Iran conflict.
So Iran is the ultimate source of all of this suffering and destruction. Throughout the region. So does that justify a war on Iran? Maybe maybe not.
But there’s more… Iran has many times officially stated they want to wipe Israel of the map. So they’ve very publicly declared they want to be an existential threat. And there’s been indication from the UN Atomic monitoring agency that Iran has been hiding things in their nuclear program, not answering questions about things and enriching more uranium than the level they agreed to limit themselves to. They also announced they were going to start testing a missile capable of carrying a 2 ton warhead to Israel.
So whether or not the Hamas war justifies Israel going to war with Iran, all of the nuclear stuff does. This is life or death for Israel, if a country that’s said they want to wipe you off the map gets the capability to do so? They can’t allow that to happen.
So Iran is also responsible for this war. Iran’s proxies attacked Israel, the threats of wiping Israel off the map, the nuclear stuff, all of that means there will be a war.
So I guess in summary:
Trump could have NOT cancelled the Treaty. Trump could have NOT assassinated the general. Iran could have NOT supported terrorist groups. Iran could have NOT threatened to wipe Israel off the map. Iran could have NOT done all the the nuclear stuff.
But they did do those things. So there’s sheer incompetence from Trump and a lot of incompetence and horrible actions by Iran and it’s proxies that all added up to a war.
But most people on these threads just reduce all of this complexity down to Israel=bad, US=bad, Iran=innocent victim of the bad guys. It’s really a mix of incompetence and hatred of Israel that’s caused so much destruction. Sure Israel has done some bad things with the settlements, but the level of hatred feels like it stems from a lifetime of indoctrination under fascist rule. Hatred of Israel hasn’t resulted in anything good for Palestinians and it hasn’t done any good for Iranians. I know it’s a problem for some Muslim sects for Jews to be living where they’re living, but at certain point… just release the hostages and accept that Israel has a right to exist. Israel has been convinced to withdraw settlements, but it’s hard to convince them to concede any ground when everyone around them are trying kill them.
I think a Palestinian non-violent resistance movement would be successful in establishing a Palestinian state. Does it really look like a violent movement is being successful?
But a lot of people are acting like elementary school shitheads constantly egging on their classmates to fight. Violence obviously isn’t working for Palestinians, how many of them have to die before everyone realizes that? It feels like people think Palestinians exist only to be cannon fodder just for their sick games.
Hamas is justifiably resisting a violent occupation. Also, the US has been participating far more directly in the apartheid and genocide than just supplying munitions.
We’re below the fold here, so nobody’s seeing this but people who agree with you and things that are not people.
No, because I’m sane. How much do you get paid for this? I’m an insufferable piece of shit willing to tell insane lies for no reason, and looking for work. Or, I mean I’ve got a friend who is.
You really are a master of defending the indefensibly monstrous. Not well, but in such a way as to piss literally everyone off and insult every living thing almost separately!
It’s cool, take your time in answering the questions. Critical thinking can be difficult for those that haven’t had a lot of practice with it. There’s no time limit to answer the questions, and the third question is rhetorical, so don’t worry about that one.
Your trolling is a thing of beauty. I’m learning so much about how to come off as an irrational piece of shit.
Thanks! Have read Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”?
The trick is to figure out a way that forces people to actually think about an issue. People hate thinking!
But it’s really important for people to think about things. In case you haven’t noticed, a lot of things in the world are going in a bad way and too many people are on autopilot just quoting bullshit from the internet. Not good to let algorithms think for you.
Is Iran responsible for what Hamas does with the weapons and munitions they supply them?
Yes, Iran is responsible for supplying weapons to Palestinians in their legitimate right of violent defense against an occupying force. Don’t you like international law or what?
Is the US responsible for what Israel does with the weapons and munitions they supply them?
Yes, the US is responsible for keeping the weapon deliveries to a genocidal apartheid state.
Are you, by any chance, trying to somehow equate Israeli genocidal violence to Palestinian militant defence against a genocidal occupying force?
So Iran is complicit in massacring villages and taking hostages on October 7. Do you think masscring villages is not an act of war?
Are you, by any chance, trying to somehow equate Israeli genocidal violence to Palestinian militant defence against a genocidal occupying force?
No I don’t equate massacring entire villages(what Hamas did) with taking military action to free hostages taken by terrorists (what Israel is doing).
Are you making it about Hamas now?
Palestine has the right to defend itself from colonisers, anything Hamas does is pisrahells fault. FAFO Go cry somewhere elseHoney you’re not arguing with a person and this comment is below the fold. You can drop it.
It can’t hear you
Yes to both.
The most prevalent proxies are the houthis and Hezbollah, which Iran has been arming, financially supporting, and influencing for about two decades now so they can attack Israel without getting themselves into an all out war with Israel and the USA, which they know they would likely lose.
Argue all you want about whether or not Israel should have bombed Iran, but calling it unprovoked is extremely disingenuous.
By that logic, half the world has the right to bomb the USA for arming proxies all over the world, though.
Also, why are you jumping to defend the actions of a state currently committing genocide against Palestinians?
right to bomb the USA
I live here and I wouldn’t hold it against them. Please stay out of DTLA though. With the bombs; totally get your last meal there if you’re headed to like Raytheon or something in OC, you won’t regret it
Palestinians count as people
Oof you’re not gonna convince a protocols larper of that one.
I’m not defending Israel. I’m answering this guy’s question, like wHaT PrOxIeS??
You can straw man all you want, but not once have I defended Israel’s actions. Just because Israel is shit to gazans doesn’t mean that Iran is not also shit to Israel. Straw man.
If we want to have a legitimate conversation about morality then we start by agreeing on facts.
Trying to claim Iran did nothing wrong is not factual.
Hamas is also an Iranian proxy. They attacked Israel in a very big way.
Hamas is an Israeli product that attacked itself on purpose. They couldn’t have done it without help from Papa Yahoo.
Iran sucks, Israel sucks too.
I don’t want Israel wiped off the map. I just want Netanyahu to crawl in a hole and off himself like his hero Hitler.
I don’t want the stronghold of protocols LARPers wiped off the map
Why not? A shot at stabilizing the region sounds pretty good after the past century. Feel like the people kind of deserve a moment of not having to watch their fucking back’s every second.
You are currently arguing in favour of genocide.
No. I’m arguing that if we have to choose a genocide, I have a preference.
I’d much rather not have any, but the protocols LARPers don’t seem like they’re gonna leave that on the table, so I think, if it comes to that, and I think that’s a weeks-not-years kind of timeline; it should be them that goes
Why did the authoritarian regime wait until now to turn off the Internet?
Something we can’t know at the moment. Their state media has taken some hits, so it’s possible they lost capabilities in monitoring internet traffic.
Well according to the Democrats, I should always support the lesser of two evils, so now Iran is good. /s
For real though, it’s called critical support. You can support Iran’s right to defend against genocide while simultaneously criticizing their human rights abuses.
So it’s ok for you to give “critical support” to an authoritarian regime, but super bad for someone to give “critical support” to Israel for fighting against an authoritarian whose proxies massacred villages? Why isn’t Iranian proxies massacring villages, Iran itself firing missiles at civilian populations (including a hosptial) something you don’t consider to be genocide?
How do you determine which genocide you support and which genocide you’re against?
Oh, so authoritarian regimes whose proxies massacre villages are bad now?
Fuck you. Stop talking shit about my country. Especially while you occupy one of those proxies.
No, I don’t give critical support to Israel because they are a settler colonial project who, along with the US and other Western powers, started all of the troubles in the Middle East in the first place.
No critical support for imperialists.
It can’t hear you. It’s being paid to not.
It?
Who’s paying you to dehumanize people?
Sam Altman and Sundar pichai. You?
started all of the troubles in the Middle East in the first place.
Wow… just wow. You really need to read a history book if you think there was never any troubles in the Middle East before modern Israel existed.
No, it’s true.
Attacking civilians doesn’t automatically make it a genocide. If that were true, then pretty much every war ever was a genocide.
So why is the Israel-Hamas war considered a genocide? Is it a numbers thing? Most other wars throughout history had many more civilian casualties than there’s been in the Israel-Hamas war.
What makes the Israel-Hamas war a genocide and for example, the Vietnam war not be considered a genocide?
Because of the genocidal rhetoric war aims behavior and aesthetics. So just vibes I guess.
What makes the Israel-Hamas war a genocide and for example, the Vietnam war not be considered a genocide?
Because Vietnam was a war of ideologies, not a land grab intended to wipe out the current occupants so they could be entirely replaced by a “superior, chosen” people not of the ethnicity of the current residents.
This is such a mindblowingly stupid attempt at a gotcha question. Ffs, you literally had over a million Vietnamese fighting on the same side as the US in the ARVN during the course of the war. The belligerent parties in a conflict both being composed of largely the same peoples fighting each other tends to preclude it being described as a genocide.
Not menitioning the events of October 7 and the fact that Hamas is still holding Israelis hostage is a rather glaring omission there.
Iran has stated many times their goal to wipe Israel off the map. Is that not them saying they only want their “chosen people” living in the area? So under your definition of genocide, Iran is committing a genocide. If the fact that Israel was attacked on October 7 is irrelevant, then the fact that Israel attacked Iran in this iteration of hostilities between them is also irrelevant. Iran has the officially stated goal of wiping Israel off the map, Iran has killed Israeli civilians, therefore Iran has committed genocide (according your definition of it).
Nah… take the Iranian government, then take the Israel government… and throw them both into the Thunderdome!
Pay-per-view that shit! (And use the proceeds to help innocent rebuild their lives)
It’s a war, not a game. One of the problems we have is people considering this conflict involving a lot of human suffering like it’s a sport and taking sides and generally acting like complete psychopaths around it. The anti-Israel crowd seem to want Palestians to suffer more so they can continue to have more propaganda to prove Israelis are evil.
I want the Israeli people being held hostage by Hamas to be released and the war there to be ended as soon as possible to stop the suffering of Palestinians caught in the middle of a war and to stop the suffering of those hostages. I want Iran to give up it’s nuclear program and stop supporting terrorism across the Middle East so that war will end so Iranians and Israelis won’t be killed or maimed by exchanges of missiles and air strikes.
It is possible to have empathy for Israelis, Palestinians, and Iranians you know. Though if you do the psychos on all sides who think of this like it’s a game will all hate you.
But fuck’ em, they’re psychopaths.
Wow, that audio is super unsettling. On its own it would seem innocuous, but with the context of trying to contact somebody in a country that’s on the verge of being nuked, it’s downright horrifying.
More nightmare fuel from the Torment Nexus
Hello fellow lvl1 tech watcher
Jesus. That’s disturbing to say the least.
I’ll be very interested to some day figure out what the explanation for this is. It’s extremely bizarre and very creepy. Also, it’s crazy that Internet access can just be whisked away so easily by the government. I guess satellite is just about the only way around that.
During the invasion of Berlin in 1945, the overwhelmed German command trying to map out the Russian advance had to resort to just calling businesses or homes of people living in areas they were uncertain about.
If most people in a district did not pick up the phone, or someone did pick up and swore in Russian, they marked it on the map as invaded.
Different worlds of course, but the point is that civilian phones have intelligence value.
It could make sense as a super creepy tactical choice by Iran to deny intelligence gathering from abroad.
The more obvious choice would be to make everyone go dark, instead of setting up nationwide voice mail to pretend everyone is alive. But maybe this way they can keep everyone’s communications open while also fooling most of these intelligence gathering methods (someone answered, in the right language, mark it as active).
Or they’re trying to figure out who’s trying to stay connected with who
I know a remote worker in Iran, went dark for a few days this week. Apparently they can’t call the UK, no internet, ended up relaying messages via a friend in Brazil via sat phone.
