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Iran International
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Iran International
Iran International (Persian: ایران اینترنشنال, romanized: Irān Internašnāl) is a Persian-language satellite television channel and multilingual digital news operation based in London, United Kingdom. Established in May 2017 and funded by Saudi Arabia, it actively promotes former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the next ruler of Iran. It is aimed at Iranians and people interested in Iranian news, culture, politics, society and sports.
News content is available online, via radio and via satellite broadcasting worldwide including inside Iran despite official attempts at censorship. The network reports on Iran's geopolitical role, economy, human rights violations, political developments, LGBTQ+ rights and other topics sensitive to the Government of Iran.
Iran International was launched on 18 May 2017. According to UK corporate records and sources "familiar with the channel", it was funded and started by members of the Saudi royal court circle. Its stated aims are to deliver world news to the inhabitants of Iran, to provide the global Iranian diaspora with "a fair and balanced view of what happens inside Iran", and to connect the two audiences. The scholar of the Middle East Elisheva Machlis placed the channel's establishment within the context of "a Saudi effort to gain influence inside Iran", and its former Washington correspondent Negar Mortazavi related the initiative to an expensive Saudi push for "influence and credibility". Iran International is headquartered in London and broadcasts internationally, with a team of journalists that have joined from other Persian-language news channels, including Manoto, Radio Farda, BBC Persian Service and Voice of America. It has bureaus in Istanbul, Paris and Washington D.C.
Iran International broadcasts via the TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT satellite to a wide region of Europe and Asia (including Iran), and also transmits an audio relay of it receivable in Iran via shortwave radio (SW). It also broadcasts worldwide via online streaming through its website or streaming apps. It is licensed in the United Kingdom to Global Media Circulating Ltd as an editorial news service based in London and is managed by DMA Media Ltd, which has bureaus in Paris, Istanbul, Kabul and Washington. Volant Media UK launched a sister channel in 2021, Afghanistan International.
In 2018 Iran's ambassador to the UK lodged a complaint to the media regulator because of Iran International's interview with a separatist group spokesman after they claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack on a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, killing 25 civilians and military. The channel aired an interview with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for the group, indirectly claiming responsibility for the attack and calling it "resistance against legitimate targets". After a long investigation Ofcom ruled that Iran International did not breach any rules. In 2021, Iran International leaked an interview given by Iran's then foreign minister, Javad Zarif; Iran's foreign ministry said leak had been distorted through selective quotations.
On 9 November 2022, among the Mahsa Amini protests, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ismail Khatib announced that Iran International has been declared a terrorist organization by the Islamic Republic of Iran for supposedly inciting the anti-government riots. Any cooperation with the channel will be considered an act of cooperation with terrorists and a threat to national security. In response to Iranian government castigation, Iran International deemed it needed to increase security in order to protect its London staff from threats emanating from Tehran. These bulwarks have included concrete barriers "guaranteed to stop a 7.5 ton truck at 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour," taking the lead from the way the UK government uses such barriers to defend against vehicular onslaughts, which vehicles are now monitored through checkpoints.
Eventually, on 18 February 2023, after a significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran and advice from the Metropolitan Police, Iran International TV said it had reluctantly closed its London studios temporarily and moved broadcasting to Washington, D.C. Operations resumed at a new location in London in September 2023.
When Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic relations in Beijing in March 2023, Saudi Arabia was reported to have agreed to tone down the coverage of the Mahsa Amini protests on the Iran International channel, or even to stop funding it, as part of the deal.
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Iran International
Iran International (Persian: ایران اینترنشنال, romanized: Irān Internašnāl) is a Persian-language satellite television channel and multilingual digital news operation based in London, United Kingdom. Established in May 2017 and funded by Saudi Arabia, it actively promotes former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the next ruler of Iran. It is aimed at Iranians and people interested in Iranian news, culture, politics, society and sports.
News content is available online, via radio and via satellite broadcasting worldwide including inside Iran despite official attempts at censorship. The network reports on Iran's geopolitical role, economy, human rights violations, political developments, LGBTQ+ rights and other topics sensitive to the Government of Iran.
Iran International was launched on 18 May 2017. According to UK corporate records and sources "familiar with the channel", it was funded and started by members of the Saudi royal court circle. Its stated aims are to deliver world news to the inhabitants of Iran, to provide the global Iranian diaspora with "a fair and balanced view of what happens inside Iran", and to connect the two audiences. The scholar of the Middle East Elisheva Machlis placed the channel's establishment within the context of "a Saudi effort to gain influence inside Iran", and its former Washington correspondent Negar Mortazavi related the initiative to an expensive Saudi push for "influence and credibility". Iran International is headquartered in London and broadcasts internationally, with a team of journalists that have joined from other Persian-language news channels, including Manoto, Radio Farda, BBC Persian Service and Voice of America. It has bureaus in Istanbul, Paris and Washington D.C.
Iran International broadcasts via the TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT satellite to a wide region of Europe and Asia (including Iran), and also transmits an audio relay of it receivable in Iran via shortwave radio (SW). It also broadcasts worldwide via online streaming through its website or streaming apps. It is licensed in the United Kingdom to Global Media Circulating Ltd as an editorial news service based in London and is managed by DMA Media Ltd, which has bureaus in Paris, Istanbul, Kabul and Washington. Volant Media UK launched a sister channel in 2021, Afghanistan International.
In 2018 Iran's ambassador to the UK lodged a complaint to the media regulator because of Iran International's interview with a separatist group spokesman after they claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack on a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, killing 25 civilians and military. The channel aired an interview with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for the group, indirectly claiming responsibility for the attack and calling it "resistance against legitimate targets". After a long investigation Ofcom ruled that Iran International did not breach any rules. In 2021, Iran International leaked an interview given by Iran's then foreign minister, Javad Zarif; Iran's foreign ministry said leak had been distorted through selective quotations.
On 9 November 2022, among the Mahsa Amini protests, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ismail Khatib announced that Iran International has been declared a terrorist organization by the Islamic Republic of Iran for supposedly inciting the anti-government riots. Any cooperation with the channel will be considered an act of cooperation with terrorists and a threat to national security. In response to Iranian government castigation, Iran International deemed it needed to increase security in order to protect its London staff from threats emanating from Tehran. These bulwarks have included concrete barriers "guaranteed to stop a 7.5 ton truck at 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour," taking the lead from the way the UK government uses such barriers to defend against vehicular onslaughts, which vehicles are now monitored through checkpoints.
Eventually, on 18 February 2023, after a significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran and advice from the Metropolitan Police, Iran International TV said it had reluctantly closed its London studios temporarily and moved broadcasting to Washington, D.C. Operations resumed at a new location in London in September 2023.
When Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic relations in Beijing in March 2023, Saudi Arabia was reported to have agreed to tone down the coverage of the Mahsa Amini protests on the Iran International channel, or even to stop funding it, as part of the deal.
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