Iran International

Iran International is a London-based, Persian-language satellite and online news channel founded in 2017, banned in Iran, whose staff operate under Metropolitan Police protection after credible Iranian assassination plots were uncovered in 2022-2023. It has been the first-citation outlet for internal Iranian reporting throughout the 2026 conflict, from IRGC command disputes to executions of political prisoners.

The outlet's funding creates a structural tension in how its reporting should be weighed. It is funded via Volant Media UK, whose parent shareholding passed to Info-Cast Cayman in December 2024, an offshore entity directed by a serving executive of the Saudi state-backed Saudi Research and Media Group; Iran International denies receiving government or state funding. That ownership picture gives the channel an institutional incentive to frame stories in ways unfavourable to Tehran, a caveat Lowdown applies when its single-sourced reporting diverges from other outlets.

On execution and political-prisoner coverage its record is more reliable: it consistently corroborates Hengaw's documentation and was the first English-language outlet to pick up Kurdish political-prisoner executions during the conflict. It also matched Al Jazeera's caution in declining to verify the Mehr News 14-point MOU draft on 14 June 2026, a claimed 14-point deal list including $24bn in frozen assets and $300bn in reconstruction funding that no official confirmed.