Iranian TV channel critical of regime halts UK broadcasts after death threats

Iran International TV's decision on Saturday (February 18) to shut down its London studios on UK police advice and shift its operations to Washington has put even greater focus on the Iranian regime's tactics to silence critical voices around the world.

The Persian-language station said two of its senior journalists had received death threats in response to their reporting.

Iran International's general manager Mahmood Enayat said the threats had become overwhelming following the arrest of a man outside the west London studios a week ago who has been charged with a "terrorism offence".

London's Metropolitan Police said that since the start of 2022 and in co-operation with the UK Security Service (MI5), it had foiled 15 plots "to either kidnap or even kill" people seen as "enemies of the [Iranian] regime".

In November, police installed concrete barriers outside the studios -- located in the Chiswick Business Park -- to prevent any attack by vehicle.

"I cannot believe it has come to this," Enayat said, adding that 24-hour broadcasts were continuing uninterrupted from Iran International offices in the US capital.

"A foreign state has caused such a significant threat to the British public on British soil that we have to move," Enayat said. "Let's be clear, this is not just a threat to our TV station but the British public at large."

"Even more, this is an assault on the values of sovereignty, security and free speech that the UK has always held dear," he said.

The decision was taken late Friday, the station said, following the February 11 arrest of an Austrian national who had been photographing and filming the exterior of the studios.

He was charged Monday "with collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism", police said.

'Serious safety concerns'

Despite the arrest, London's Metropolitan Police said Saturday, "we still have serious concerns for the safety of people working at this company".

"This has led to us giving further advice and the company is now relocating," it said, adding that its advice was "exceptional" and not "given lightly".

Iran International TV employs about 100 journalists in London, who will continue working from home, company spokesman Adam Baillie said.

A similar number work for the station in Washington, serving a global audience of 30 to 40 million Farsi speakers, Baillie said, denying regime claims that it is in league with exiled Iranian opposition groups.

Police "took the whole thing extremely seriously, with seven armed response teams on site at one point", he said, noting that the safety of "thousands of other people working in the area" is also a concern.

Iran International in November reported that London's Metropolitan Police had warned it of plots originating with the Islamic Republic to kill or kidnap its journalists working at the network's London headquarters.

Other media outlets have reported similar threats against their staff, with the BBC World Service in January calling on the Iranian regime to end its harassment and intimidation of its journalists and their families.

Iran International has said Iranian officials who want to blame ongoing protests on foreign influences accuse it of instigating unrest and have threatened revenge.

"Iran projects threat to the UK directly, through its aggressive intelligence services," MI5 director general Ken McCallum said in November.

"At its sharpest this includes ambitions to kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime," McCallum said.

'Unacceptable behaviour'

British media in January reported that the United Kingdom is preparing to formally designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

Iranian expats have continued to lobby the European Union to take a similar stance.

"We will not tolerate any threat to media organisations or journalists," a UK government spokesperson said Saturday.

"We know the Iranian regime has established a pattern of this type of behaviour which is completely unacceptable, yet sadly typical of the regime and its lack of respect for basic rights," the spokesperson said.

The British government on Monday summoned Iran's most senior diplomat in London, Charge d'Affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin, over alleged "serious threats against journalists living in the UK".

"I am appalled by the Iranian regime's continuing threats to the lives of UK-based journalists and have today summoned its representative to make clear this will not be tolerated," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat on Sunday described the Iranian regime's threats to assassinate UK-based journalists and harm their families as beneath contempt, Iran International reported.

"Their efforts to silence Iran International TV are a direct attack on our freedoms and an attempt to undermine our sovereignty. They will not succeed," he said.

Anti-terrorism police have given Iran International "exceptional support, including armed officers at their London studio", he added.

"Due to the severity of the threat they advised them to move to a more secure site in the UK. Until the new site's ready, they'll broadcast from their US studio."

He added that the network is determined to carry on its mission and "they won't be silenced by cowardly threats from a despotic regime".

Britain also imposed new sanctions Monday on eight senior Iranian figures it said are responsible for domestic oppression.

Inside Iran, the regime is continuing its efforts to silence critics.

Iranian authorities on Monday shut down reformist daily Sazandegi for publishing so-called "false content", state media reported, after the paper recently criticised the country's economic policies and morality police.