The TV channel “Iran International”, which is affiliated with the Iranian opposition and broadcasts from London, was closed, and its broadcasts were transferred to Washington. The decision was made after Britain received from Israel that Iran intended to harm the channel’s journalists
Israel conveyed information to Britain that Iran intends to harm a journalist of the “Iran International” television channel, which broadcasts from London and is affiliated with the Iranian opposition. Following the information, the channel’s broadcasts in the UK were stopped immediately and transferred to Washington, the channel reported.
According to the report, at the end of the week the CEO of the channel informed his employees who were born in Iran and live in Britain not to come to work. The channel’s offices were closed due to the danger of immediate harm to the employees.
British Deputy Home Secretary Tom Tugenhout attacked the Iranians: “A direct attack on British freedoms and an attempt to undermine British sovereignty, this network will not be silent in the face of the cowardly threats of an authoritarian regime. We will continue to provide all support to ‘Iran International’ to ensure that they can continue to operate safely from Britain”.
Tom Tugandhat, Minister of Internal Security Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior, added that the Iranian government spied on Jews in Britain and plotted to kill them. While making a statement about threats to journalists in the UK, said the minister in parliament: “Between 2020 and 2022, Iran attempted to gather intelligence on Israeli and Jewish individuals based in the UK. We believe this information was preparation for future lethal operations.”
After the reports, the British Foreign Office summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat in the UK and was told that “the British government will not tolerate threats to the media”.
Foreign Secretary James Calverley said: “Britain will always stand up to countries that threaten our fundamental values of freedom of expression and communication. I am appalled by the Iranian regime’s ongoing threats to the lives of journalists in the UK, and today I have summoned its representative to make it clear that this will not be tolerated.” In a speech in parliament, he denounced the Iranian regime: “They murdered their own people and became hostages of others, the demonstrations that began in 2022 show that it does not have the support of the Iranian people.”
“In recent months the Iranian regime has publicly called for the killing of those who report the truth, this includes actual and very specific threats against journalists from the UK working for ‘Iran International’, a prominent Persian-language news channel, and their families. The Minister of the Interior and I completely condemn this outrageous violation of sovereignty our”.