Influential British figure meets senior officials on Iranian government-sponsored trip, fact-checking agency discovers | uk news

An investigation by Iran’s fact-checking agency found that a British broadcaster made two state-sponsored visits to Iran this spring, met with senior officials and worked ‘actively’ to spread the regime’s message.

Bushra Shaikh, from Surrey, owns a luxury clothing brand and came in 9th place on series 13 of The Apprentice in 2017. She described herself as “inspired by Coco Chanel.”

Shaikh posts on X and Instagram to his hundreds of thousands of followers about his appearances on TalkTV and Good Morning Britain, including pictures of his outfits and comments about right-wing figures such as Laura Loomer and Rupert Lowe.

An investigation by Factnameh found that Shaikh played a “very active role in reproducing the government’s narrative” after participating in two press tours this spring organized by IRIB World Service, the international arm of Iran’s state broadcaster.

Factnameh identified more than a dozen participants on the tour, including a handful of American journalists.

Fereidoon Bashar, executive director of ASL19, which created Factname, said cultivating friendly journalists and public figures has been part of Iran’s strategy for some time. “Iran has a long tradition of having prominent Western figures who are sympathetic to an anti-imperialist, anti-colonial framework,” he said.

But after the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel in June 2025, there was a “big change in Iran’s approach to communication,” he said.

Bashar said, “I think they’re realizing, along with the rest of the world, that a lot of mainstream media is losing its audience and it’s much easier for these individual influencers to engage and invite in. The content they put out is more likely to align with the national narrative and less likely to be fact-checked.”

It is unclear whether Shaikh and others covered their own expenses or paid for the trip. Bashar said the Iranian government appears to have valued Shaikh’s content so much that it invited her back for a second trip in April after the first in February.

“Her level of access the second time was much higher than the first, including from senior officials. They seemed to appreciate her coverage the first time,” he said.

Shaikh’s posts about Iran appear to coincide with significant events in the country, including the deepening of the conflict, ceasefire talks, and nationwide protests in January. Some of these amounts to “broadcasting unedited propaganda from the Islamic Republic,” Factnameh said.

In the Shaikh’s visit, which she recorded for hundreds of thousands of followers in In one post, she modeled a black and gold scarf gifted to her by Iran’s Culture Minister.

She met with high-ranking officials, including the governor of Isfahan and a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited sensitive sites such as the Strait of Hormuz, and posed on a boat with the phrase, “The Strait of Hormuz is open to us, but closed to the Epstein empire,” as if referring to the United States.

Factnameh found that Shaikh’s posts showed a “highly calculated pattern of social media manipulation.” Of the 4,047 posts she posted last year, 20% were about Iran, leading to millions of interactions and “disproportionately high engagement.”

Shaikh’s tour earlier this year drew criticism from digital rights activists in Iran, who suggested she appeared to have access to the internet inaccessible to ordinary people and that her trip was at the regime’s invitation. Iranian activists, some affiliated with the Women, Life and Freedom Movement, circulated an online petition suggesting Shaikh should be investigated for violating sanctions.

Meanwhile, Shaikh wrote about Iran’s internet shutdown: “People outside Iran seem more worried about Iranians’ limited internet access to the outside world than Iranians inside Iran. Most do not see this as a government crackdown but as temporary citizen security.”

Shaikh is part of a growing number of “war influencers” or “war influencers” who are content creators who provide their followers with unmediated, sometimes citizen journalist-style access to war zones.

Some of her posts aimed to provide an on-the-ground look at the impact of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. In one, she describes a destroyed residential building. On the other hand, she said she investigated a missile attack on a girls’ school in Minab.

Israel and Russia have also been reported to use influential people to spread their stories, especially in the face of hostile coverage in traditional media.

Shaikh has been contacted for comment.

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