Tehran’s State Media Scrambles After Attacks and On-Air Takeover
Omid Habibinia reports that Iran’s state broadcasting system lurched into crisis Sunday night after fighter jets struck two Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) complexes in Tehran, leaving several employees killed or injured and triggering rolling disruptions across television and radio transmissions. The blasts, visible from distant parts of the capital, were followed by a brief blackout on some feeds before signals returned—then faltered again as channels struggled with technical problems and pared-back programming.
According to a source cited by Habibinia, IRIB executives and the broadcaster’s Political Department had known for hours on Saturday that Ali Khamenei had been killed and were preparing how to announce it. Another source said IRIB had shifted into “wartime mode” from midnight Saturday, adjusting staffing, bracing for cyberwarfare, and planning for potential attacks on live broadcasting capacity.
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The article sketches a state media apparatus already operating out of patched-together contingency sites. Before the June war, IRIB’s News Network and the IRIB News Agency worked from the Sakhteman Shishey (“Glass Building”) complex in northern Tehran, which was later destroyed in an Israeli strike. Since then, broadcasts have been routed through two studios—one near the damaged area and another near Jame Jam—with a backup studio designated in the Channel 4 building. A source familiar with IRIB says plans to set up an additional studio outside the main compound were delayed after emergency funding was deferred, while falling advertising revenue—tied to Iran’s economic turmoil—left the broadcaster scrambling for a permanent replacement. Staff, the source said, have been dispersed across separate buildings, including locations outside IRIB’s protected compound.
Then came the twist that turned technical disruption into psychological warfare: hours after the IRIB strike, satellite transmission of Iranian television channels was hijacked. Viewers saw messages from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a portion of a speech by President Donald Trump addressed to the Iranian people, paired with footage linked to the latest attacks.
Habibinia also reports that Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said employees at the state radio service were killed or wounded in an attack on the main radio center, while nearby security and military sites, including Police Station 113 near the Grand Bazaar, were hit in multiple waves. Read the full report for the granular timeline—and the unsettling picture of a regime fighting for control of its own airwaves.
