FM Spox: Iranian Nation’s Rights Violated by US Sanctions on IRIB, Press TV

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has condemned Washington’s recent decision to introduce sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting [IRIB] and Press TV as a violation of the rights of the Iranian nation.

Taking to Twitter on Friday, Kanaani said the sanctions come while anti-Iran “terrorist media outlets” are free to foment chaos inside Iran through their propaganda campaign.

“Allowing terrorist networks and media outlets to make mischief against the Iranian nation and sanctioning IRIB and Press TV to block Iran’s views from being conveyed to the world is the continuation of the American administration’s blatant violation of the Iranian nation’s rights,” Kanaani wrote in a post in Persian.

“There is no end to America’s crimes against independent nations and governments,” he added. 

Analyzed as efforts aimed at muzzling free speech and alternative views, the sanctions on Iranian media came amid Press TV’s coverage of the recent violent riots and its confrontation with fake narratives fostered by Western media.

The sanctions, imposed by US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control [OFAC], target IRIB chief Peyman Jebeli, head of IRIB World Service and the CEO of English-language Press TV television news network Ahmad Norouzi, IRIB Vice Director General Mohsen Barmahani, Director of Press TV’s Programs Department Yousef Pour-Anvari, as well as IRIB senior correspondents Ali Rezvani and Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour.

OFAC alleged that IRIB had broadcast “hundreds of forced confessions of Iranian, dual national, and international detainees in Iran.”

Last Saturday, the European Union also imposed sanctions on a number of Iranian institutions and individuals, including Press TV, over alleged “rights violations” following the recent foreign-backed riots in the country.

IRIB’s World Service in general, and Press TV in particular, have played a remarkable role as the counterweight to Western propagandist media for years, demolishing and debunking their lop-sided and unfair coverage of Iran and the region.