Iran has expanded restrictions on distribution of news content from the country, directing international news outlets to restrict use of their content by Israeli media.
A directive issued Tuesday to a group of international news outlets based in Tehran specified mandatory language to be included on “all submitted content, including photos, videos, reports, and other media productions.”
The instructions, which were sent to a number of news organizations including The Associated Press, came from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees media activity. “Responsibility for failing to comply with this directive rests with the submitting media outlet,” the instructions, translated from Farsi, noted.
The new restrictions come three months after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran that grew into a continuing, occasionally flaring war in the region. President Donald Trump insisted a peace deal is close on the 88th day of the war, even as Iran on Tuesday denounced the most recent U.S. strikes as a sign of "bad faith and unreliability."
The required text for news organizations would say that the content in question cannot be used by Israeli media and Farsi-language TV stations based outside Iran. For years, Iran has banned international media from sharing some material with BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Manoto TV and Iran International at the risk of having their operations shut down in the country.
Despite the restrictions, many Farsi-language media outlets abroad still access images and videos released by Iranian state media through a variety of websites and messaging apps.
The Washington-based group Freedom House ranks Iran as not having a free and independent media, noting that all television channels are controlled by hard-liners within its theocracy and those working in other outlets face harassment and arrest. Satellite dishes are banned though many have them to watch Farsi-language channels abroad, while access to the internet outside of the country has been shut off for weeks.
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