Charming Kitten (also known as APT35, Phosphorus, and TA453) is an Iranian state-sponsored advanced persistent threat group widely assessed to operate on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The group conducts sophisticated cyber espionage campaigns employing spear-phishing, credential harvesting, and social engineering tactics — often posing as journalists, academics, or think-tank representatives to gain the trust of targets. Their primary focus is intelligence collection against government officials, military personnel, dissidents, journalists, human rights activists, and academic researchers, particularly those involved in foreign policy, nuclear negotiations, and matters of strategic interest to the Iranian government.