Iran Warns Media Not to Cover Impact of Sanctions

Insists Reports Must Reflect 'Regime Interests'

The Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees the nation’s media, has issued a warning to the various media outlets inside Iran not to cover the economic impact of Western sanctions against the regime.

The statement warned that Iran is “not in a position to allow the media to publish news or analysis which is not compatible with the regime’s and national interests.” It further promised to meet with media officials to inform them of what the party line is supposed to be.

Of course, this is an extremely poorly kept state secret, because the sanctions are already widely reported to have done major harm to the country’s private sector, as well as slowed their oil exports.

An honest assessment of the impact of the sanctions might indeed be more damaging to the West than the Iranian regime, as the indications are that the sanctions have mostly crippled private companies in Iran while forcing the public to be ever more reliant on the state-run industries, which are the only ones with the clout needed to bypass the sanctions and trade abroad. Inflation is rising and the average Iranian is feeling a serious bite from the sanctions, while the government officials supposedly targeted have been all but immune.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.