Iran state TV warns public against disclosing officials’ hiding places

As the regional conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States escalates, Iran’s state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), has undergone a marked transformation in tone and language.

In a segment of a program on Iran’s state broadcaster, presenter Mohammad Jafar Khosravi acknowledged that officials are hiding in safe houses among ordinary citizens and urged the public not to reveal their locations, warning that otherwise they would be “finished” and targeted.

Alongside this shift, dehumanizing language toward foreign adversaries has become increasingly common. Following intensified strikes in late February, IRIB hosts and commentators repeatedly described Israeli officials as “rabid dogs,” portraying them as threats that must be eliminated.

The escalation in tone extends beyond broadcast television. On social media platform X, IRIB presenters have engaged in increasingly personal exchanges with Israeli officials.

Figures such as Ameneh Saadat Zabihpour and Ali Rezvani, both sanctioned by the United States in 2022 as "Interrogator Journalists", have traded insults with Israeli spokespersons, with some interactions descending into personal attacks, religious provocation, and inflammatory rhetoric.

"After blunt death threats by the Revolutionary Guard, aired on State TV and the televised intimidation of the women's football team, State TV presenters are openly calling for the murder of the people of Iran," the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) said in a post on its Instagram.

"The recent calls for 'shoot-to-kill' verdicts make the broadcaster an instrument of direct attack on a population already reeling from the violent suppression of January uprising," the Association said last month.