Israel Bombs Iran’s State TV (image-X/ss/AdameMedia)
The Defence Minister of Israel, Katz, had confirmed that the Israeli military had targeted Tehran’s broadcasting authority. The video footage showing the TV anchor while criticising Israel for its attack, halting the show after an Israeli missile struck the studio. The attack had come shortly after the Israeli military had issued a warning for Tehran’s District Three, where IRIB’s headquarters is located, and Defence Minister Israel Katz said: “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has decried the Israeli attack on Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB. In a post on social media, Baghaei called the attack a “wicked act of war crime,” accusing Israel of being “the biggest enemy of truth” and the “killer of journalists.” He had further urged the UN Security Council to take immediate action and stop the genocidal aggressor from committing further atrocities.
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The recent attack on the Iran broadcaster replicates its previous attacks on news media targets in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “appalled” by Israel’s attack on Iranian state TV and argued impunity for the killings of Palestinian journalists had “emboldened” the country to target media elsewhere.
An Iranian journalist, Younes Shadlou, has said many of his colleagues were still inside the Iranian state television building when the Israeli attack happened. The video of the reporter standing outside the burning building stated that they had received evacuation warnings, however, decided to stay till the last moment to show the “true face of the Zionist regime to the world.”
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Meanwhile, the Israeli army in its statement said that, without giving out any evidence, the centre is being used by the armed forces to promote military operations under civilian cover. “The attack was carried out in a targeted manner to minimise harm to uninvolved people as much as possible,” it said.
