In a shadowy White House briefing room hung with maps of the Persian Gulf, Senator John McCain is meeting a perfidious cabal of spies and businessmen, including the international financier George Soros, to plot regime change in Iran.

Watch: The cartoon aired on Iranian television

"Our military presence no longer has the impact it used to have," grumbles a CIA official.

"This can be seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to find alternative methods."

The CIA's covert operations in the Middle East have not, sadly, been opened to public scrutiny.

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The conversation was in fact featured in an animated cartoon being aired on Iranian television, warning against foreign conspiracies and advertising 113, the Intelligence Ministry's anti-spy hotline.

Taking aim at such betes noir of Iran's security apparatus as intellectuals and emigre satellite channels, the film goes on to tell the story of Manuchehr, a young political activist who accepts American money and arms in the hope of winning a visa to the United States.

Reported to the hotline by his sister, Manuchehr is followed by the secret police and arrested.

After questioning, his interrogator praises him for spilling the beans on his fellow conspirators and promises he will be treated leniently.

"Today, global arrogance and international Zionism, with the help of their spy and satellite networks, are planning regime changes," says a voice-over in the six-minute film, which was translated by Memri, an American centre that translates Arabic and Persian media broadcasts.

Full article here.