I mean, there are plenty of possibilities here, including that the person describing the event is describing it second hand well after a decade has passed.
Don't be in such a rush to judgement; you might learn something.
Given the context of an intelligence officer knocking on an unfamiliar person's hotel room door unexpected and asking them to defect, I think "salaam habibi" would strike most Farsi speakers as a bizarre and malapropos greeting.
"Hola amigo. I’m from the CIA, and I want you to board a plane with me to the United States."
I see it as an indicator of careless journalism that the author is citing an unnamed source "familiar on the matter" about a 10-year-old conversation that he seems not to have transcribed into the right language. I put it into the same category of people who ask what part of Mexico the Puerto Ricans are from.
Maybe a better example would be... well, if they put their hand over their heart and said "salaam habibi" to an American scientist.
I suppose that depends on your definition of "US Americans".
I'm sure his salutation was forgiven...the offer is what makes him think a trillion things a second.
Although I doubt the "mistake" was unintentional.
Either it's somebody's sock puppet account or someone new who doesn't understand that HN really is different from Reddit and a higher level of intellectual discourse works much better here.
> To show his sincerity and goodwill, the agent put his hand over his heart. “Salam habibi,” he said.
Either the reporter, or the CIA hasn't done their research. Habibi is Arabic, and that's not how Iranian greet each other, especially if they want to show sincerity and goodwill.