Iran threatens US with legal action for hosting dissident news network Iran International in DC

The Islamic incursion into Western countries is directly proportionate to what the West allows. The West has appeased Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic supremacist entities for so long that the message has been sent that the West was weak and an easy target, because its leaders were so sensitive to being called “racist” and “Islamophobic.” Whenever Western countries implement any policy designed to protect national security and/or Western freedoms, out comes the “Islamophobia” battering ram.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani states that the Islamic Republic “reserves the right to legal pursuit against the United States for hosting the Persian-language TV news network Iran International.” Iran has no right to tell America who it should and should not host.

It is preposterous that the Iranian regime would reference Iran International as “terrorist” and insist that America do the same. America under Joe Biden has invited such mockery by showing itself to be weak.

Iran has also been strengthening its role in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Iranian diplomats arrived in Saudi Arabia in January to take up Organisation of Islamic Cooperation posts.

By standing firmly in support of Iranian dissidents and with Iran International, America would send the statement to Iran that its bullying will not be tolerated. It isn’t only America that is facing brazen Iranian threats over the issue of supporting Iranian dissidents who back the protesters in Iran. The UK government summoned Iran’s top Iranian envoy in London this week over “serious threats against journalists living in Britain.” “Charge d’Affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin was hauled in “to make clear the UK will not tolerate threats to life and media freedom.”

“Tehran threatens US with legal action for hosting Iran International,” Al Monitor, February 21, 2023:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani said on Tuesday that his country “reserves the right to legal pursuit” against the United States for hosting the Persian-language TV news network Iran International.

“We do strongly advise the US government to be aware of the consequences under international law in hosting a terrorist, violence-promoting, pseudo media outlet,” Kanani declared in comments carried by the judiciary-run Mizan news agency.

The reaction came after the dissident TV network reported last week that it was suspending operations at its main headquarters in London and relocating to its smaller bureau in Washington, DC. Iran International cited advice from the London Metropolitan Police following “a significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran” against its journalists.

Launched in 2017, the outlet began operations in London before opening a second office in Washington last year. With exiled dissident Iranian journalists shaping the backbone of the staff, its editorial line has from the outset been a thorn in the side of the Islamic Republic. Notably, Iran International has put out extensive 24-hour coverage of the ongoing protest movement that has rocked Iran since mid-September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody.

Iran International’s rolling coverage of the bloody state crackdown, its hosting of opposition leaders and pundits on analytical panels and especially its reference to the protests as a “revolutionary uprising” have so unsettled the Iranian authorities that they designated it as a terrorist entity, accusing it of instigating violence for the purpose of regime change. The outlet has denied those charges, arguing that it has been adhering to journalistic standards of integrity and accuracy.

“Tehran will adopt the necessary measures,” said Kanani with regard to the US hosting of the outlet. Kanani suggested that the TV station’s claims of security threats were false, describing the relocation as “a puppet show” and “some division of labor among intelligence organizations of certain countries.”

Among other accusations, the Islamic Republic also insists that Iran International is controlled by the Saudi royal family and is thus bound to advance the agenda of the Sunni regional rival of overthrowing the Shiite establishment in Tehran…..