Iranian State Broadcaster Dubbed ‘Torture TV’ Struck by IDF

Latest Developments

• IDF Strikes Iran’s State Media: The Israeli Air Force struck the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building in Tehran on June 16, stating that the structure was being used by the Iranian Armed Forces “to promote military operations under civilian cover.” The station was broadcasting live as it was hit, and fires visibly burned inside the building following the airstrike. 
• Evacuations Issued for Swaths of Tehran: The IDF issued Farsi-language evacuation warnings for Tehran’s 3rd District prior to its strike on the building, highlighting the area in red on a map that included the IRIB studio. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz foreshadowed the strikes, stating, “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear. The evacuation of local residents is beginning.”
• IRIB Previously Sanctioned by the United States: After designating the IRIB in 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned six senior IRIB employees in 2022. Treasury’s announcement stated that IRIB “and its subsidiaries act not as objective media outlets but rather as a critical tool in the Iranian government’s mass suppression and censorship campaign against its own people.” It added that IRIB “cooperates extensively with security and intelligence agencies, including Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to obtain and publicly disseminate forced confessions from Iranians, dual nationals, and foreign detainees,” with  “evidence point[ing] to the use of torture, both physical and psychological; threats against family members; and degrading treatment to extract forced confessions.”

FDD Expert Analysis

“IRIB is known as Torture TV because it’s the Islamic Republic’s state-owned outlet of choice to broadcast forced false confessions, often coerced by beating innocent victims with cables or threatening to harm their family members. Victims have been peaceful protestors, minorities arrested by the regime as part of its repression, or others used to threaten adversaries of the Islamic Republic.” — Toby Dershowitz, Managing Director, FDD Action 

“IRIB is a key pillar of the regime’s apparatus of oppression and terrorism. Disabling IRIB’s capacity to broadcast inside Iran, if achieved, would strip the regime of a vital tool for narrative control and weaken its position in the cognitive war.” — Saeed Ghasseminejad, Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor

“IRIB has a long history of producing and spreading propaganda, not only in Iran but also abroad. Iran uses information as a weapon of war to advance its geopolitical strategy and control its own population.” — Ivana Stradner, Research Fellow

“In this war, the battle over information and public perception is a front of its own. Just as the 1979 Islamic Revolution hinged on seizing state broadcasting operations, today’s fight demands breaking the regime’s hold over both traditional and digital propaganda. The IRGC’s cyber command drives much of the Islamic Republic’s disinformation across social media, and it must not be allowed to dominate these platforms.” — Janatan Sayeh, Research Analyst

FDD Background and Analysis

“Torture TV: The Case for Sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s State-Run Media,” by Toby Dershowitz and Talia Katz

“U.S. Should Re-impose Sanctions on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting,” by Saeed Ghasseminejad and Richard Goldberg

“The Case for Designating Iran’s State Media,” by Saeed Ghasseminejad and Richard Goldberg