Iran Ties Rattle Code Pink Boss

Woman seated at a United Nations desk with a United States nameplate — Photo: lev radin / Shutterstock

A British newspaper reports that Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin once sat face-to-face with two men the United States later sanctioned for helping Iran’s intelligence service recruit American visitors.

Story Snapshot

The Telegraph reports Benjamin attended a 2014 Tehran conference tied to New Horizon, a group the U.S. Treasury later sanctioned.
Photos show Benjamin with two men U.S. officials later described as intermediaries for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The Telegraph says it obtained a handwritten note Benjamin apparently sent one of the men after the event.
Code Pink says it takes no foreign government money, and Fox News notes the report does not prove Benjamin knowingly worked with Iranian intelligence.

Tehran Conference Ties Benjamin to a Sanctioned Network

The Telegraph reports Benjamin traveled to Tehran in 2014 for a conference run by New Horizon, an organization the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five years later. Treasury said New Horizon gave Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a way to recruit and gather intelligence from Western visitors who attended its events. The 2014 trip came years before that designation existed.

Photos and a Handwritten Note Surface

The Telegraph published photos of Benjamin with Nader Talebzadeh and Hamed Ghashghavi. Talebzadeh later became New Horizon’s chairman. Ghashghavi served as its secretary for international affairs. U.S. authorities later described both men as go-betweens for the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force. The paper also says it obtained a handwritten note Benjamin appears to have written to Ghashghavi after the conference.

Benjamin’s trip to Tehran was not a one-time event. A 2014 report described her giving a 25-minute interview on Iran’s state broadcaster, Press TV, while she was in the country. Reporting also says she returned to Iran in 2019 with a Code Pink delegation and met with then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Benjamin’s Long Record of Outreach to Iran

Benjamin has built her public career around opposing U.S. military action against Iran and other countries. Code Pink states on its website that it does not accept money from China, Iran, or any other foreign government. Benjamin told the Telegraph, “We do not believe in supporting governments; we support people”.

What the Report Does and Does Not Prove

Fox News, in reporting on rising U.S.-Iran tensions, noted that calling Benjamin an “asset” does not by itself prove she knowingly cooperated with Iranian intelligence. The Telegraph’s account shows contact, photographs, and alleged correspondence. It does not show a payment, a signed agreement, or a direct statement from Benjamin admitting any intelligence relationship.

Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin met two men later sanctioned by the United States over their links to the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force during a 2014 conference in Tehran, The Telegraph reported Friday.

Benjamin was photographed at the New Horizon conference alongside… pic.twitter.com/idw3BfoWkM

— Alex kennedy (@Alexkennedy213) October 24, 2026

A Familiar Playbook for Foreign Influence

Foreign governments have long used conferences, state media, and activist networks to build relationships with Western visitors long before any formal recruitment takes place. One analysis of Iran’s influence efforts found that in 2014, Iran’s Foreign Ministry and Revolutionary Guard veterans took part in a coordinated outreach network aimed at Western academics and activists. U.S. law requires anyone acting on behalf of a foreign government to influence American policy or public opinion to register and disclose that relationship.

The story is spreading fast across conservative outlets and social media, while Code Pink and Benjamin have pushed back on any suggestion of foreign funding. For readers on both sides of the political aisle already wary of unchecked foreign influence in American politics, the episode raises a familiar question: how much access should foreign state-linked media and organizations get to American activists and public figures, regardless of their cause.