Several killed after Israeli raid on Iranian TV
Several employees of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) were killed in an Israeli attack on its studios in Tehran this afternoon, Agenzia Nova reports.
Following the attack, the station's live broadcasts are constantly interrupted and reconnected. According to reports, a few minutes after the attack, Irib resumed its live broadcast from another studio, according to Iranian daily Hamshahri.
“The Israeli attack on the Tehran headquarters of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) shows that Iranian media are accurately hitting the strategic depth of the enemy’s media apparatus” and “now Iranian journalists will continue their mission with greater force,” the president of the Iranian state broadcaster, Peyman Jebelli, said in a message.
Iranian News Agency IRNA condemned an Israeli strike on the headquarters of Iran’s national television.
In a statement on Monday evening, IRNA said the Israeli strike on the television headquarters in the capital, Tehran, earlier in the day was another manifestation of the Tel Aviv regime’s “policy of institutionalized and state terrorism.”
“This criminal act was carried out in contravention of all international regulations and norms on the immunity of reporters and media offices and was a desperate attempt at silencing the great Iranian nation’s voice of truth,” IRNA said.
The statement strongly condemned the Israeli strike and offered sympathies to the manager and personnel of the IRIB. IRNA said it stood by the IRIB and other Iranian media to reflect the voice of the Iranian nation in the face of Israel’s war of aggression.
Separately, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei called the strike a war crime and asked the United Nations Security Council to act.
Earlier it was reported that the U.S. Embassy in Israel stated "it is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel."