LONDON: Police in the UK are protecting the offices of Persian-language TV channel Iran International after two of its journalists were threatened by the regime in Tehran.
The Metropolitan Police in London said they had received a “credible threat” against the individuals and that they had stationed armed response vehicles outside the broadcaster’s offices.
The channel has carried footage of the ongoing protests against the Iranian government throughout their duration, accusing the country’s leadership of “state-sponsored intimidation.”
The government of Iran has branded Iran International a “terrorist organization,” and the journalists are thought to have been targeted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in a “significant and dangerous escalation” of its overseas activities.
Last week, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib explicitly stated that Iran International and its “agents” would be targeted by the regime.
A spokesman for Iran International said: “We don’t know how long the ARVs will be deployed but staff continue to take precautions as previously advised by our security director.”
He added that the decision was “all Met-led and not in response to us.”
Iran International’s managers Volant Media said: “The Metropolitan Police have now formally notified both journalists that these threats represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families. Other members of our staff have also been informed by the Metropolitan Police of separate threats.
“These lethal threats to British citizens come after weeks of warnings from the IRGC and Iranian government about the work of a free and uncensored (Persian)-language media working in London.”
The IRGC, Volant Media added, “cannot be allowed to export their pernicious media crackdown to the UK” and it called on the British government to “join us in condemning these horrific threats and continue to highlight the importance of media freedom.”
British intelligence earlier this month revealed Iran had increased its activities targeting UK-based Iranian dissidents and British nationals.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said the threats, including assassination attempts, were “reckless actions” by a “state actor that most frequently crosses into terrorism” in a bid to “silence critics.”
Iran “projects threats to the UK directly through its aggressive intelligence services,” McCallum said. “At its sharpest, this includes ambitions to kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime. We have seen at least 10 such potential threats since January alone.”
