Many TV and radio stations of Iran’s state broadcasting network were disrupted at 3 pm local time on Thursday, January 27, airing footage of Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The disrupted sequence also aired visual and at times audio slogans of “Death to Khamenei!” in a reference to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and “Viva Rajavi!” again referring to the Iranian opposition leaders.
"This is an extremely complex attack and only the owners of this technology could exploit and damage the backdoors and features that are installed on the systems,” said Ali Dadi, deputy chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).#Iran pic.twitter.com/yigFXFoFSr
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 27, 2022
A crossed-out image of Khamenei was also shown on numerous state TV networks.
The images also show a video clip of Massoud Rajavi, who says: “Today, we still honor the time that we declared death to the reactionary. We stood by it.”
“More than 400 TV and radio servers were offline and completely destroyed,” according to sources providing reports from inside Iran’s TV and radio networks.
“Footage related to the MEK were suddenly aired at 3 pm local time on 14 TV and 13 radio stations, and we were caught off guard,” according to reports from inside the regime.
State Networks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Jam-e Jam 1, 2, 3, Al-Alam, Quran, Salamat, Sports, Education, and Culture TV stations, along with the following radio stations witnessed the mentioned disruptions: Culture, Payam, Quran, Sports, Eghtesad (Economy), Ava, Iran, Health, Talavat, Tehran, Radio Musemi, Radio Reserve, Radio Javan.
Security forces associated with the regime’s state broadcasting networks prevented people from entering or leaving the state networks’ buildings. All IRIB employees and staff have been quarantined for questioning.
“Our colleagues are investigating the incident. This is an extremely complex attack and only the owners of this technology could exploit and damage the backdoors and features that are installed on the systems,” said Ali Dadi, deputy chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), told the state TV channel IRINN on Thursday.
“Similar disruptions happened to the Koran Channel, Radio Javan, and Radio Payam,” he added, referring to other state-affiliated broadcast channels.
In the past, Iran has witnessed a series of cyberattacks such as one last year in October that disrupted the sale of heavily subsidized gasoline.
14 TVs and 13 radio stations of Iran’s state broadcasting network were disrupted at 3 pm local time on Thursday, January 27, airing footage of Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi#Iran #Iranprotests pic.twitter.com/fzZ95F1e0P
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 27, 2022
The [disruption] represented a major breach of Iranian state television, long believed to be controlled and operated by members of the Islamic Republic’s intelligence branches, particularly its hard-line Revolutionary Guard. Such an incident hasn’t happened for years, according to the Associated Press.
Iran’s state-run Khabar Fouri acknowledged today’s disruption and held the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) accountable. “Network One was disrupted by the MEK, airing images of Massoud Rajavi for a few moments,” the report reads.
