Iran International () is a Persian-language satellite television channel and multilingual digital news operation established in 2017 and based in London, United Kingdom. Iran International has been backed by Saudi-linked private investors, and media reports have alleged that figures connected to the Saudi royal court were involved in its financing, while the agency denies receiving funding from or having ties to the Saudi government. Iran International actively promotes former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the next ruler of Iran. It is aimed at Iranians and people interested in Iranian news, culture, politics, society and sports. Iran designated the organisation as a terror organisation in 2022, alleging that it incited anti-government protests after the death of Mahsa Amini.
News content is available online, via radio and via satellite broadcasting worldwide including inside Iran despite official attempts at censorship. The network reports on Iran's geopolitical role, economy, human rights violations, political developments, LGBTQ+ rights and other topics sensitive to the Government of Iran.
Despite satellite signal jamming by the Iranian government, Iran International has an audience of around 20 million people. The network primarily focuses on news coverage and current affairs, but it also broadcasts programs and documentaries on science, arts, technology, sports, and culture.
Its flagship news and analysis programs include 24 with Fardad Farahzad, Titr-e Aval with Niusha Saremi (previously hosted by Fardad Farahzad), and Cheshmandaz with Mehdi Mahdavi Azad (formerly Cheshmandaz with Sima Sabet). Among its cultural, artistic, and sports programs are Panjereh, Tanin Tarikh hosted by Abdollah Abdi, and Hat-Trick hosted by Mazdak Mirzaei.
Iranian authorities classified various Persian-language media outlets operating outside the country including Iran International as part of their “military target bank” during the 2026 Iran war.
History Iran International was launched on 18 May 2017. According to UK corporate records and sources "familiar with the channel", it was funded and started by members of the Saudi royal court circle. Its stated aims are to deliver world news to the inhabitants of Iran, to provide the global Iranian diaspora with "a fair and balanced view of what happens inside Iran", and to connect the two audiences. The scholar of the Middle East Elisheva Machlis placed the channel's establishment within the context of "a Saudi effort to gain influence inside Iran", and its former Washington correspondent Negar Mortazavi related the initiative to an expensive Saudi push for "influence and credibility". Iran International is headquartered in London and broadcasts internationally, with a team of journalists that have joined from other Persian-language news channels, including Manoto, Radio Farda, BBC Persian Service and Voice of America. It has bureaus in Istanbul, Paris and Washington D.C.
Iran International broadcasts via the TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT satellite to a wide region of Europe and Asia (including Iran), and also transmits an audio relay of it receivable in Iran via shortwave radio (SW). It also broadcasts worldwide via online streaming through its website or streaming apps. It is licensed in the United Kingdom to Global Media Circulating Ltd as an editorial news service based in London and is managed by DMA Media Ltd, which has bureaus in Paris, Istanbul, Kabul and Washington. Volant Media UK launched a sister channel in 2021, Afghanistan International.
In 2018 Iran's ambassador to the UK lodged a complaint to the media regulator because of Iran International's interview with a separatist group spokesman after they claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack on a military parade in Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, killing 25 civilians and military. The channel aired an interview with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for the group, indirectly claiming responsibility for the attack and calling it "resistance against legitimate targets". After a long investigation Ofcom ruled that Iran International did not breach any rules. In 2021, Iran International leaked an interview given by Iran's then foreign minister, Javad Zarif; Iran's foreign ministry said leak had been distorted through selective quotations.
Mahsa Amini protests On 9 November 2022, among the Mahsa Amini protests, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ismail Khatib announced that Iran International has been declared a terrorist organisation by the Islamic Republic of Iran for supposedly inciting the anti-government riots. Any cooperation with the channel will be considered an act of cooperation with terrorists and a threat to national security. In response to Iranian government castigation, Iran International deemed it needed to increase security in order to protect its London staff from threats emanating from Tehran. These bulwarks have included concrete barriers "guaranteed to stop a 7.5 ton truck at 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour," taking the lead from the way the UK government uses such barriers to defend against vehicular onslaughts, which vehicles are now monitored through checkpoints.
Eventually, on 18 February 2023, after a significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran and advice from the Metropolitan Police, Iran International TV said it had reluctantly closed its London studios temporarily and moved broadcasting to Washington, D.C. Operations resumed at a new location in London in September 2023.
When Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic relations in Beijing in March 2023, Saudi Arabia was reported to have agreed to tone down the coverage of the Mahsa Amini protests on the Iran International channel, or even to stop funding it, as part of the deal.
In February 2023 Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev was charged with terrorism after being caught photographing areas surrounding the London studios, and in September Iran International said it was resuming broadcasting from London, UK. Dovtaev was found guilty and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail.
The Handala group infiltrated the internal systems and data of Iran International in July 2025. Iran International confirmed the authenticity of the leaked data in a statement. The group said it had published information on more than 71,000 users, employees, financial records, contracts and internal messages of the network. In total, the volume of the leaked data is said to have exceeded 2 terabytes. The Handala group is linked to the Iranian intelligence, according to Iran International.
Programming
According to Middle East Eye, Iran International is a media platform for the Iranian opposition. Kourosh Ziabari of Al-Monitor wrote it "does not shy away from presenting itself as an opposition media organization" and frequently gives the microphone to guests who criticise the Iranian government. The channel has been referred to as an "Iranian exile news outlet" by Borzou Daragahi of The Independent.
The channel is known for raising the profile of Reza Pahlavi, the last heir apparent to the former Iranian throne, and establishing him as a potential leader of Iran by constant coverage and repeatedly interviewing him. It also airs coverage of People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), including live broadcast of their rallies. Following the Twelve-Day War of June 2025, it conducted a series of interviews with top Israeli politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid.
The claim of responsibility for the Ahvaz military parade attack was made through Iran International. In 2020, the TV broadcast performance of Iranian singers who were flown in from the United States to the Winter at Tantora Festival. In 2018, Iran International was not running television advertisements; by 2026, it was running advertisements that promote Reza Pahlavi.
News output
Iran International relies on a team of journalists around the world and reports on current affairs, health, technology, human rights violations, LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights and more. The channel has reported extensively on the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the Iran Nuclear Deal and global politics.
Iran International broadcasts via the TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT.
The channel also airs television shows on sport, culture and politics and has produced documentaries that have been nominated for awards by the Association for International Broadcasters.
Exclusive stories
Iran International reported exclusively on the extension of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's furlough, and her partner Richard Ratcliffe has been a guest on the channel multiple times. The channel was also the first to report that Iranian rapper Amir Tataloo was facing deportation back to Iran from Turkey, and the sentencing of The Salesman star Taraneh Alidoosti.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the channel published exclusive documents pertaining to alleged high level government corruption concerning COVID-19 medical supplies, with The Independent writing that the documents "purported to show how Iran regime figures intervened in the procurement of medical supplies to steer South Korean contracts for Covid-19 test-kits through shell companies towards conservative foundations controlled by cronies".
Reporting on the execution of Navid Afkari, Iran International exclusively interviewed Amnesty International's Iran Researcher and human rights lawyer Raha Bahreini, who told the channel that "with the secret and previously unannounced execution of Navid Afkari, the Islamic Republic authorities once again showed the ruthless and merciless of Iran's judiciary system at the international level".
Human rights In June 2020, Iran International reported on a series of honour killings and gender-based violence that took place in Iran, with legal analyst and journalist at Iran International Nargess Tavalossian, the daughter of Nobel Prize winning activist Shirin Ebadi, speaking publicly to global media outlets about the increase in violence against women in the country. Popularity Iran International's news and analysis have been cited in Western media publications including BBC News, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph, Fox News, and The Independent. Staff at Iran International have also appeared as experts on BBC Radio 4, Sky News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation networks and ITN.
In 2021, an online survey carried out by the Netherlands-based non-profit the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) found Iran International was the most popular television channel among respondents, with 33% reporting daily viewership. More than half of the participants surveyed reported that they trusted Iran International "a lot" or "to some extent".
In 2023, another online opt-in survey carried out by GAMAAN reported 54% of respondents "sometimes" or "often" listened to or watched Iran International. GAMAAN's poll was primarily distributed through U.S. government-funded VPN platforms Psiphon and Lantern,Brave New Software Project, Inc., 2024 Audited Financials as well as social media and encrypted messaging platforms. It found that Iran International's most popular programs were the "Cheshmandaz Talk Show, with Sima Sabet," its various documentaries, and "24, with Fardad Farahzad." Half of the individuals surveyed also said they trusted Iran International "a lot" or "to some extent". GAMAAN states its survey results are generalisable to the broader population of "literate individuals above 19 years old residing in Iran". The 2023 survey's sample of 38,445 respondents inside Iran is disproportionately male, urban, and university-educated compared to the general population in Iran, which GAMAAN sought to adjust for with statistical weighting methods.