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August 5, 2025 – Iran/International –
Iran International, a Persian‑language broadcaster headquartered in London, has reported a chilling escalation in threats by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). A total of 45 journalists employed by the outlet and over 300 of their family members in eight countries, including the UK, US, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Turkey, and Belgium, were issued explicit death threats in the past six weeks. The messages warned: “Stop reporting on Iran, or you and your immediate relatives will die.”
This sudden escalation followed the Twelve-Day War between Iran and Israel in mid-June 2025. Iran International alleges these threats constitute a coordinated campaign by MOIS to intimidate reporters and punish dissent, especially those covering Iran’s nuclear crisis, internal unrest, and regional conflicts. The campaign represents an “alarming and unprecedented escalation” in harassment, according to the broadcaster’s legal team, who filed an urgent appeal with five UN Special Rapporteurs in late July.
Iran International’s appeal highlights the high risk to the investigators’ relatives, many of whom remain in Iran and beyond the reach of international protections. These women, men, and minors are singled out in MOIS communications, raising fears of extrajudicial action. The threats include firm deadlines, after which unspecified but credible consequences would follow.
The broadcaster has called on the United Nations to intervene, urging action under mandates on freedom of expression, arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial execution, and counterterrorism. Press advocates warn this escalation signals a move toward transnational repression, targeting not only exiled journalists, but also their families at home.
This campaign forms part of a broader regional backlash. Journalist networks and human rights groups draw parallels to earlier Iran-linked campaigns involving intimidation of dissidents abroad, surveillance operations, and the orchestration of assassination plots against critics in diaspora communities.
The threats highlight an emerging danger: authoritarian regimes using family members as leverage to silence media critics beyond their borders. Observers say that without international scrutiny and protective mechanisms, both exiled journalists and their relatives remain at grave risk.
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