Persian BBC request for activities in Iran received "positively"

Mohammad Hosseini, Iran’s Minister of Culture announced that they are considering Persian BBC’s request to resume activities in Iran in a “positive light.”

Hosseini told Iranian media: “We have a positive attitude toward Persian BBC and Al-Arabiah coming and starting activities in Iran.”

He added: “We are aiming at having offices for all radio and TV networks in Iran and have a positive view of this matter. We currently have 122 press bureaus where reporters are settled. Al-Arabiah has made certain requests which we have supported.”

He went on to urge foreign media not to merely focus on Iran’s political news. He stressed that there are numerous cultural and artistic events taking place in Iran which “deserve more of their attention.”

The Minister of Culture went on to say that each country has its own set of rules regarding foreign media and foreign reporters are obliged to follow them. He went on to say that many news networks had a “destructive role in the political events of last year as if they were a force that were charged with certain operations.”

After the post election events the Ministry of Culture announced that reporters are not allowed to make films or reports about the protests.

The ministry has condemned the activities of Persian BBC in the past year describing it as direct interference in Iran’s internal affairs. Iran also expelled the BBC’s Iran correspondent, Jon Leyne under the charges of “dispatching fabricated news and reports, ignoring neutrality in news, supporting rioters and trampling the Iranian nation’s rights.”

In the past year, Radio Zamaneh, Radio Farda and Persian BBC were directly named by Iranian authorities and the Revolutionary Guards as elements of a “soft war” against the Islamic Republic regime.