IRIB

Founded in 1971, IRIB is a constitutional monopoly: its director is appointed by the Supreme Leader, placing it outside elected government authority. It operates over thirty television channels and thirty radio networks across Iran, alongside Press TV, an international service broadcasting in English, Arabic, and Spanish.

IRIB became a direct military target from the war's opening days: its Tehran headquarters was struck on 2 March 2026, with director Peyman Jebelli confirming the hit. Broadcasting continued via contingency systems, and IRIB subsequently aired the mass funeral of 165 schoolgirls killed in the Minab school strike, cementing its role as the regime's primary instrument for shaping domestic war perception. On 13 April 2026 IRIB broadcast an AI-generated video showing Mojtaba Khamenei surveying a Dimona strike map, no audio, an information artefact rather than a verified address.

On 14 May 2026, IRIB published what it described as "new and decisive directives" attributed directly to Mojtaba Khamenei, the first time the media apparatus formally named the post-March leadership as the source of active operational guidance rather than political commentary. No confirming broadcast, recorded address, or authenticated communication accompanied the document. IRIB is not reporting Mojtaba's leadership: it is constructing it. Since Mojtaba has not appeared in public since installation, the broadcaster functions as the sole production mechanism for a Supreme Leader whose physical presence and decision-making capacity remain unverified by any external channel.

On 7 July 2026, IRIB extended this constructed-narrative role to the war at sea: it said the LNG carrier Al Rekayyat was struck for using the 'Omani route' after repeated warnings, and IRGC radio told vessels its missiles and drones were 'ready to fire'. State media separately claimed the vessel had 'US Navy support', a claim no other source corroborates, consistent with the broadcaster's pattern of putting Tehran's preferred framing on record ahead of independent verification.