Iranian state television on Wednesday night aired a documentary billed as an exposé of US efforts to undermine Iran’s political system. It featured interviews with Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, two Iranian-Americans jailed on espionage charges since May.

The programme highlighted US backing for “velvet” or “orange revolutions” in former communist countries – including Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan – and suggested they served as a model for US policy towards Iran. It then set out, to establish the roles of Ms Esfandiari and Mr Tajbakhsh in building US-funded networks of intellectuals.