TEHRAN, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Iran has declared the recently established BBC Persian TV illegal and banned Iranian journalists and artists from working for the station, CNN reported.
"Considering the BBC's history of creating chaos in Iran, and its efforts to set the various strata of Iranian society against each other, the presence of the BBC Persian TV in the Islamic Republic is deemed to be illegal," Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, the minister of culture and Islamic guidance, has announced, adding that plans for the BBC Persian TV channel were not carried out "with good will."
However, a spokesman for the English broadcaster insisted to CNN the BBC's latest operation -- which began airing programs in Farsi in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan last week -- isn't breaking any Iranian laws.
The BBC representative said the company adheres to an Iranian law that says it is illegal for the channel to report and gather news in Iran. Instead, BBC Persian TV gathers news from abroad, using sources and contacts within Iran, the spokesman told CNN.
