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The Islamic Republic of Iran has just issued a warning to Iranian dissidents working for the London-based Iran International, which broadcasts into Iran true stories about the country that the regime doesn’t want reported. It’s a murder threat: stop your reporting on Iran, or you and your relatives will be killed. As Iran’s economy sinks, truthful reports on the situation, which the regime wants kept hidden, are being made available to Iranians on social media and increasing political discontent. Tehran has one way to shut down those reports: it threatens to kill 45 of the journalists who work for Iran International, and 300 of their family members as well. More on these threats can be found here: “Iran threatens to execute 45 journalists, over 300 relatives in coordinated media suppresion [sic] effort,” Jerusalem Post, August 7, 2025:
The London-based media outlet Iran International has filed an urgent appeal to the United Nations, revealing that 45 of its journalists and more than 300 of their relatives across eight countries have received explicit death threats from Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.
The threats warn staff to stop reporting on Iran or face execution, including the execution of their immediate family members.
The Persian-language news network, headquartered in London with additional bureaus in Washington and other global locations, said the campaign is part of a coordinated effort by Iranian authorities to silence dissent and intimidate the press. The threats mark what Iran International calls an “alarming and unprecedented escalation” in Tehran’s long-running campaign against the outlet.
While the Iranian government has for years tried to shut down as best it can Iran International’s online reports, it has never before issued a threat of mass murder of its journalists. This is a new development, prompted by the collapse of Iran’s economy, which has made the grim reports from Iran International even more believable and effective.
In its formal appeal filed Tuesday with five UN special rapporteurs, Iran International’s legal team outlined that the threats have come with specific deadlines, all of which expired last week. The letter was sent to UN experts on freedom of expression, extrajudicial executions, torture, counterterrorism, and Iran.
No other totalitarian state has used the threat of mass murder of journalists, wherever they may be located around the world, in order to shut down truthful news about that state. Iran has gone beyond the Nazis and the Communists both in the geographic scope of its threats against journalists around the world, and in the size of the group being threatened — 45 journalists and 300 of their relatives.
The countries where these journalists are located include not only the U.K., where Iran International’s headquarters are located, but also the USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Turkey, and Belgium.
What should the Western world now do? All of the countries where Iran International journalists now live and are threatened should collectively charge Iran with threatening mass murder of those journalists, in the hope that the UN itself will urge the imposition of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic, such as a call for countries to halt their buying of Iranian oil and natural gas. Iran’s own news outlets can be targeted for cyberattacks. Sanctions can be placed on Iranian officials, including freezing their assets abroad, and denying them visas to travel to other countries. These sanctions should remain in place until Iran withdraws the threats it has made to the employees of Iran International. And, of course, the Western countries could provide Iran International with much greater financial support so it can expand the numbers of its personnel and increase its online operations. That’s the best way to answer Iran’s threat.