TEHRAN – Several senior Iranian officials have strongly inveighed against Persian-speaking London-based media outlets that are targeting Iranian audiences with incitement and cognitive war.   

With Iran grappling with continued unrest driven by teenagers, the role these outlets play in pitting the Iranian youth against their government has come to the spotlight again with senior Iranian authorities threatening action against countries funding or hosting the outlets.

The most senior and starkest warning in this regard came from the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), General Hossein Salami, who directly warned Saudi Arabia to shut down a satellite news channel widely seen by Iranian officials as funded by Riyadh. 

The channel, Iran International, has been the main source of incitement to unrest over the past few weeks. 

Speaking on the sideline of an IRGC military exercise on the border with the South Caucasus region, General Salami said Saudi Arabia is playing media games with the Iranian youth. “We are warning them in this regard,” he said, according to state news agency IRNA. 

“They are openly seeking to provoke our youth. We advise them to exert control over these media outlets. Otherwise, they will pay the price,” he said. 

General Salami then directly addressed the Saudis and said, “Note that you have entered this field and know that you are vulnerable. You better be careful.”

Also, an Iranian lawmaker has called on the Iranian foreign ministry to file a complaint against countries standing behind Persian-speaking channels, especially Saudi Arabia.

The lawmaker, Seyed Mahmoud Nabavian, told Fars News that these countries are staging a media war against Iran. 

And on Tuesday, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, the spokesperson for the Iranian government, took a jab at Saudi Arabia and the UK for funding Persian-speaking satellite channels. 

“There are countries spending money on launching Persian-speaking media that don’t know Persian but they want to put pressure on un through media warfare,” Bahadori Jahromi said, according to IRNA. 

London is the seat of many Persian-speaking channels such as Iran International, Manoto, and the Persian service of the BBC. All these channels have used everything in their power to pit Iranians against their government. 

And they have given airtime to some terrorists. For example, Iran International conducted an interview with the terrorists behind the 2018 Ahwaz attack that targeted a military parade.