Documents first published by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) reveal that the Thomson Reuters news agency provided nearly $4 million worth of text and video news services to Iran’s state-run broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), between 2021 and 2024, the Washington Free Beacon reports. This relationship persisted despite longstanding U.S. sanctions against IRIB and its English-language channel, Press TV, which have been penalized by the U.S., Canada, and the EU for human rights abuses and propagandist activities.
The internal communications show Reuters negotiating directly with senior IRIB and Press TV executives to maintain the flow of news content, acknowledging that these entities “depended heavily on Reuters video and text services.”
“A Reuters executive acknowledged in one 2021 email with an IRIB official that both IRIB and Press TV ‘have depended heavily on Reuters video and text services.’
‘I want to make sure that these services continue without any interruptions,’ the executive wrote when IRIB could not pay Reuters, likely as a result of U.S. sanctions, according to NCRI. ‘I am under pressure from my management to start receiving payments as soon as possible.’
Reuters had initially requested $3,882,116 in overdue payments from IRIB, with an executive writing, ‘Wishing you had a great day ahead and I look forward to hear back from you on the next steps and when to expect payments please.’”
IRIB reportedly introduced a “third-party agent” to handle transactions, an arrangement Reuters later confirmed internally to facilitate overdue payments amounting to $3,882,116.
A senior GOP congressional staffer told the Washington Free Beacon that Reuters’ actions might have violated U.S. sanctions and described the content supply as lending legitimacy to IRIB’s state propaganda, emphasizing that circumventing sanctions is not just a moral issue but could be criminal.
Reuters has confirmed selling news services into Iran for over ten years and stated that such activity was disclosed to the U.S. Treasury Department and investors but did not comment specifically on the ongoing status of its relationship with IRIB or concerns about its content usage.
The leaked documents have raised significant questions on Capitol Hill about the ethical and legal implications of Reuters’ dealings with a broadcaster that sources say enables Iranian regime propaganda globally despite sanction designations.
“Reuters uniquely provides the IRIB with news content that the IRIB uses for legitimacy, which Reuters officials bragged about in these emails,” one senior GOP congressional staffer said. “That is a moral crime. Now it’s clear from the emails that Reuters knew it was circumventing American sanctions by using third-party cutouts. That is an actual crime that people go to jail for.”
The NCRI analyst suggested an alarming comparison over the disturbing discovery asking, “Would Press TV be as effective in amplifying genocidal, anti-American propaganda without help from Reuters?”
“Providing services in support of Press TV is the modern-day equivalent of supplying Goebbels and his Nazi Ministry of Propaganda with syndicated news content in support of their propaganda efforts,” the analyst said.
According to the Free Beacon, “much of Press TV’s coverage includes comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, claims that Iran defeated Israel in the 12-Day War, and what amount to reprints of Hamas press releases.”
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Author: Team Jarrett
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