Iranians abroad say calls home are being answered by eerie robotic voices

Since Israel began striking Iran a week ago, a number of Iranians living abroad say that when they phone relatives at home, an automated voice picks up instead. Nine people in places including the United Kingdom and the United States described the experience to The Associated Press, speaking anonymously or giving only first names or initials because they fear for their families' safety.

Ellie, a 44-year-old British-Iranian, was greeted by a robotic female voice when she tried to reach her mother in Tehran. "Alo? Alo?" it said, before asking in halting English who was calling. It then said its name was Alyssia and asked whether Ellie remembered her. Ellie's mother is diabetic, is running low on insulin and is stuck on the outskirts of the city. Ellie wants her to leave but cannot tell her so.

Most of the voices speak English, though at least one used Farsi. They do not respond to the caller and simply keep going with their script. A 30-year-old woman in New York who heard the same message as Ellie called it "psychological warfare." Hearing an AI voice when expecting her mother, she said, was "one of the most scary things I've ever experienced."

Some messages are stranger still. One woman in the U.K. recorded a voice thanking her for listening and musing that life is full of surprises, some joyful and some challenging. Another woman in the U.K., identified as M., heard a long relaxation exercise urging her to picture a serene forest or a seashore. She had been trying to reach her immobile mother-in-law in northeast Tehran, an area hit hard by Israeli bombardment, who she later heard had been admitted to intensive care with respiratory problems. The message, M. said, leaves her feeling only "helplessness." Other Iranians abroad say their calls simply ring and ring.

The calls come as Israel's offensive against Iranian nuclear and military sites strikes Tehran and other cities. Iran has answered with hundreds of missiles and drones and has imposed a sweeping internet blackout, which it says is meant to protect the country. The blackout cuts ordinary Iranians off from outside information and makes it hard for relatives to reach them.

Five experts who reviewed recordings shared by the AP said the voices could be low-tech artificial intelligence, a chatbot or a pre-recorded message to which international calls are being rerouted. Who is behind it remains unclear. Four of the experts thought the Iranian government was the likelier source, while the fifth pointed to Israel.

Colin Crowell, a former Twitter vice president for global policy, said Iranian phone companies appeared to be sending calls to a default message system that cannot complete them. Amir Rashidi, a U.S.-based Iranian cybersecurity expert and director of the digital rights group Miaan, agreed and said it looked like a government measure to thwart hackers, though he acknowledged there was no hard evidence. He noted that mass voice and text messages urging people to prepare for "emergency conditions" went out in the campaign's first two days, and said calming messages fit how the government has handled past emergencies. Tech entrepreneur Mehdi Yahyanejad said it would be hard for anyone else to hack the system and doubted Israel had a motive.

Marwa Fatafta of the digital rights group Access Now offered a different view, suggesting it could be "a form of psychological warfare by the Israelis," consistent with Israel's earlier use of direct messaging toward Lebanese and Palestinians. She said the messages seem meant to "torment" anxious Iranians abroad. The Israeli military declined to comment, the prime minister's office did not respond, and a request to Iran's U.N. mission was not immediately answered.

A few families have found workarounds. Ellie knows a man near the Iran-Turkey border who holds a phone with an Iranian SIM card and another with a Turkish one. He calls her mother on the Iranian phone, since calls within Iran still connect, and presses it against the Turkish phone on which Ellie is waiting. Her mother was shocked to hear about the AI voice, saying her phone had not rung at all. Elon Musk has said he activated Starlink in Iran, where the devices are illegal, and authorities are urging people to report neighbors who have them.