The US State Department on Thursday called on Iran to stop its ongoing assaults on journalists and independent media, including threats targeting reporters and their families across the world.
"We call on Iran to immediately cease these threatening actions and to respect the fundamental right to freedom of expression," the State Department said in a post in Persian on X.
“The United States condemns the Iranian regime’s relentless attacks on journalists and the free press, including threats against reporters and their families in the United States and Europe,” the department added.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi said in an interview on Thursday that free speech in Iran is under severe attack.
“In Iran, there is no freedom of expression. Critics are tortured and killed in prisons. The number of executions has even been rising on a daily basis. There is hardly a human rights activist in Iran who has not been imprisoned,” Mohammadi said.
According to Reporters Without Borders, “Iran has reinforced its position as one of the most repressive countries in terms of press freedom, with journalists and independent media constantly persecuted through arbitrary arrests and harsh sentences handed down after unfair trials before revolutionary courts.”
The State Department said attacks against journalists "are a blatant attempt to silence dissent and prevent the world from witnessing the regime’s repressive tactics."
“Targeting those who seek to expose the truth is a hallmark of authoritarianism, and the United States stands firmly with journalists and media outlets working to amplify the voices of the Iranian people,” the State Department said on its Persian account.
Iran has ramped up detentions and pressure on rights activists since the June ceasefire with Israel, and the trend continues.
Human rights groups say Iran has sharply increased the pace of executions in recent months. Washington-based rights group Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said earlier this month that at least 730 people have been executed in Iran since the start of 2025.
In July, the United States and thirteen allied countries accused Iran of plotting to kill, kidnap, and intimidate individuals in Europe and North America, citing violations of sovereignty and links to international criminal networks.
On August 5, Iran International filed an urgent appeal with United Nations experts urging them to take action against Iran over serious risks to the lives and safety of their journalists worldwide and relatives inside Iran.
