The Ministry of Intelligence has included Christian satellite TV stations on a newly publicised list of “hostile” media organisations and individuals.

The list, which can be viewed here, includes evangelical networks Sat-7, Nejat, Seven and Mohabat TV, alongside mainstream Persian-language organisations such as BBC Persian and Iran International. 

The list also includes details of journalists, activists and opposition figures such as Reza Pahlavi, Masih Alinejad and Shirin Ebadi.

Any “cooperation” with these individuals or organisations, including the sending of photos or videos, could result in prosecution, the Ministry of Intelligence states, under the espionage law brought in after the 12-day war with Israel in 2025. 

At least five Christians have so far been charged under the new law, resulting in combined sentences of over 40 years in prison.

This came after over 50 Christians were rounded up in the month following last year’s conflict and accused by the Ministry of Intelligence of being “Mossad mercenaries” who had been “trained abroad” by churches in the United States and Israel, and had acted “under the guise of the Zionist Christian evangelisation movement”. 

Article18’s Fred Petrossian said the new list “shows that the scope of dealing with media activists, social media users, and foreign media outlets continues to expand”.

“In the official literature of the Islamic Republic, ‘hostile’ refers to an individual or institution that, from the government’s perspective, is hostile or belligerent to the Islamic Republic’s system,” he said. 

“The scope of this concept in the laws and judicial procedures of the Islamic Republic is very vague and broad and can include everything from criticism and media activity to what is considered ‘propaganda against the system’. In practice, determining the instances of this title is also the responsibility of the security and judicial institutions; in other words, it has no boundaries.”

He added: “Over the past four decades, the Islamic Republic has restricted the ability of Persian-speaking Christian institutions to operate freely within the country. Persian-language churches have been closed, many Christian-affiliated institutions have been shut down, and security forces have repeatedly raided house-churches. In such circumstances, Persian-language Christian [media] networks based outside Iran have filled some of the void caused by the restrictions on the activities of churches and Christian institutions inside the country by broadcasting educational programmes, Bible studies, sermons, and Christian hymns.”