“Iranian authorities must immediately clarify the legal basis for this mass detention of its citizens and cease treating those who communicate with the media as criminals,” said CPJ Chief Programs Officer Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Labeling ordinary Iranians as ‘operational agents’ simply for their association with a news outlet is a dangerous tactic of intimidation and a blatant escalation in Iran’s violations of press freedom.

Iran’s intelligence ministry had been monitoring “the so-called citizen-journalists of the Zionist-Terrorist International Network” – a term the government uses to describe London-based Iran International – during the June 13 to 24 Iran-Israel war, state-owned Mehr News Agency reported. The ministry then “arrested and summoned 98 affiliated operational agents,” the agency said on July 28.

The ministry provided no evidence to support its allegations and did not disclose the names, locations, or legal status of those detained or summoned.

The Islamic Republic has previously arrested Iranians working with international media on vague charges, such as for “collaborating with hostile states” or “propaganda against the state.”

Iran’s reformist Ham Mihan newspaper reported that more than 100 journalists had been fired in the aftermath of the 12-day war, as authorities have cracked down on critical voices, with hundreds of arrests and several executions. 

CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York for comment but received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

The breaches were linked to two coordinated attacks – one in the summer of 2024 and another in January 2025 – that used malware-laced Telegram messages to infect staff devices, DW Persian reported.

“The use of spyware to harass journalists represents a chilling escalation in Iran’s campaign to intimidate and silence independent media,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “No journalist should be subjected to digital surveillance or coercion. Iran must immediately cease its transnational repression of the press.”

The operation was attributed to Banished Kitten, also known as Storm-0842, Dune, or Hanzaleh, a cyber unit within Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence led by Yahya Hosseini Panjkhi, whose identity was first revealed by the outlet’s reporting. 

Outlets reported that the hacker group Hanzaleh claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has not confirmed the claim on any of its affiliated platforms.

The outlet said it has strengthened digital security and alerted authorities following both attacks.

“We remain resolute in our mission to deliver accurate, uncensored news to our audience, and we will not allow these threats — online or offline — to disrupt our work. These attempts to intimidate us will not succeed,” the channel added.

Separately, Iranian lawmakers are considering a bill that press freedom advocates warn could criminalize independent journalism tied to foreign outlets as it imposes harsh penalties, including death, for alleged collaboration with “hostile” states or media. It would also allow courts to jail journalists and bar them from public service if their reporting is deemed to cause “fear and panic” or harm “national security.”

CPJ’s email to the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York requesting comment on the cyberattacks and the proposed law did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Valizadeh, a former Radio Farda reporter, returned to Iran on March 6, 2024, after 14 years in exile. He was immediately detained by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence, and later sentenced in two expedited court sessions for “collaboration with a hostile government,” without specifying which government in the charges or conviction. His appeal was denied.

“The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Iranian authorities’ confiscation of Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh’s identity documents, which is part of a broader pattern of using asset confiscation to punish and silence dissenting voices,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Targeting imprisoned journalists in this way is meant to further isolate them and intimidate others. Iranian authorities must return Valizadeh’s documents without delay and end the use of asset confiscation as a tool of repression against independent journalism.” 

The authorities have also moved to seize assets belonging to Valizadeh and his family, according to London-based news outlet Iran International. Without access to his identification documents, Valizadeh is no longer able to manage his property-related affairs for local and foreign assets. Iran International noted a growing pattern of such punitive measures targeting imprisoned dual nationals.

This is Valizadeh’s second hunger strike; he previously protested in March 2024 over what he called his “sham trial,” ending it after six days due to concern for his mother, who went on the strike with him.

In a separate case, Tehran prosecutors opened proceedings against financial journalist Marziye Mahmoodi over a tweet about a national cooking oil shortage. She was accused of “spreading falsehoods,” according to her social media post. The press freedom group Defending Free Flow of Information in Iran said the case reflects growing pressure on journalists who cover economic issues.

CPJ emailed the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York for comment on Valizadeh but did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On January 24, Judge Asef Al-Hosseini, in Branch one of Karaj Revolutionary Court, sentenced Parisa Salehi, an economics reporter for the state-run financial newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad, to one year in prison, a two-year ban on leaving the country, two years of internal exile, and a two-year ban on social media use, after convicting her on charges of “spreading propaganda against the system” in connection with her reporting, though no specific report was mentioned at the time, according to her post on X, formerly Twitter, and a report by Iran International.

Salehi’s prison sentence was later reduced by an appeals court to five months, but the other sentences were upheld, according to news reports. 

On April 21, Salehi received a summons requiring her to surrender  to prison authorities within five days, the exiled-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported.

“Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Parisa Salehi and cease the practice of arbitrarily locking up members of the press without revealing any credible information about their alleged charges,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “The lack of transparency about Salehi’s case risks a chilling effect on newsgathering in the country and questions the judiciary’s due process.” 

Salehi was arrested on April 28 and was immediately transferred to Karaj’s Kaju’i prison to serve her five-month prison sentence according to a post by her sister Parinaz Salehi on X, formerly Twitter. 

CPJ’s email to Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York requesting comment on Salehi’s arrest and imprisonment did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Pouria Zeraati, 36, a presenter for Iran International, was outside of his home in Wimbledon, south London on March 29 when a group of men attacked him. The assailants fled the scene by car, and Zeraati was hospitalized for treatment.

Although no motive has been identified in the case, nor any suspects apprehended, the incident led authorities to launch a counterterrorism investigation, since there has been an alarming increase in instances of critics abroad being targeted by the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Since its founding in 1979, the Islamic government in Iran has regularly used tactics of extraterritorial repression, including multiple assassinations in Western nations, that have gone unprosecuted.

“UK authorities must thoroughly investigate the attack on Pouria Zeraati and all threats to Iranian journalists and news organizations,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ program director in New York, on Tuesday. “Iranian journalists in exile remain highly vulnerable to extraterritorial repression. It is crucial that they have the protections they need and those responsible for these attacks are held accountable.”

Adam Ballie, a spokesperson for Iran International told CPJ on Tuesday that “along with our colleagues at BBC Persian, Iran International has been under threat, very heavy threats, for the last 18 months since the IRGC Commander Hossien Salami said in October 2022 on live TV ‘we’re coming for you,’ which they have consistently repeated.” 

“Our live coverage of Iran matters such as UN human rights, protests, Evin prison fire, economic and social welfare, all of which are not welcomed by the Iranian government and made us a target,” Ballie said.

The stabbing of Zeraati comes after a plot to assassinate two other Iran International news anchors – Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad – was uncovered late last year.

Sima Sabet, a former TV presenter with Iran International, told CPJ on Monday that the Metropolitan Police asked her to leave her home safety, after Zeraati’s attack, for her safety. In August 2023, Sabet resigned from her job despite her prime time show having the highest rating of any Farsi-language TV program due to heavy online attacks. Sabet shared that the attacks ramped up after her coverage of nationwide protests in Iran, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in custody, and the revelation terror plot against Sabet. But Sabet said the threats have not stopped. 

On Monday, Zeraati, in a post on his personal X account, said that he had been released from the hospital, and he and his wife have been moved to a safe house under the supervision of London’s Metropolitan Police. He also noted that counterterrorism police were making “good progress” and that “the suspects had purposefully planned this attack” and posed no threat to the general public in London or the rest of the UK.

The Islamic Republic claims it was not behind the attack.  

“We deny any link to this story of this so-called journalist,” Mehdi Hosseini Matin, Chargé d’affaires at Iran’s embassy in London, wrote on his X account.

CPJ emailed the Iranian Foreign Ministry for comment on Iran International’s case of Pouria Ziaratti’ stabbing but did not receive a response.

According to CPJ research, Iran is among the world’s leading jailers of journalists.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Time and again Iranian authorities have acted with impunity in attempting to silence journalists around the world,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “U.K. authorities must ensure the safety of Iran International’s staff and send a message that threats to journalists on its soil will not be tolerated. Until foreign governments hold Iran accountable, this trend will only worsen, and journalists will continue to face unacceptable threats to their safety.”

Earlier this week, Iran International announced in a statement that two of its journalists received credible threats to their lives by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in direct relation to their work as journalists.

Iran has arrested at least 61 journalists since the start of protests in mid-September—Iran International covered the protests—following the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, whom morality police arrested for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law. CPJ has documented the release on bail of 13 of those journalists. CPJ has called for the release of all detained journalists.

In recent years, the Iranian government has increasingly targeted journalists on foreign soil. They have harassed, threatened, abducted, carried out extrajudicial measures against journalists, and thus far have not been held accountable.  

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.