Iran International: TV channel says Iran threatened UK-based journalists

Parent company Volant Media said the Metropolitan Police had notified the pair of a recent increase in "credible" threats from Iranian security forces.

It denounced the "escalation of a state-sponsored campaign to intimidate Iranian journalists working abroad".

Iranian authorities have not commented.

However, they announced sanctions against Iran International and BBC News Persian last month, accusing them of "incitement of riots" and "support of terrorism" over their coverage of the anti-government protests that have engulfed the country over the past two months.

The two UK-based channels are already banned from Iran, but a press freedom watchdog says they are among the main sources of news and information in a country where independent media and journalists are constantly persecuted.

Volant Media said in a statement that it was "shocked and deeply concerned" by the threats its journalists had received, which it attributed to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), a powerful military force with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The Metropolitan Police have now formally notified both journalists that these threats represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families. Other members of our staff have also been informed directly by the Metropolitan Police of separate threats."

It added: "These lethal threats to British citizens on British soil come after several weeks of warnings from the IRGC and Iranian government about the work of a free and uncensored [Persian]-language media working in London."

Volant Media warned that the IRGC "cannot be allowed to export their pernicious media crackdown to the UK" and called on the British government to "join us in condemning these horrific threats and continue to highlight the importance of media freedom".

In a statement to the BBC, the Metropolitan Police said: "We do not comment on matters of protective security in relation to any specific individuals."

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford reports that the UK law enforcement source would not discuss the suggestion in the Daily Telegraph that a "hostile Iranian surveillance team" was spotted outside the homes and offices of the journalists.

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