Iran's judiciary files lawsuit against journalists over comments on talks

An anti-US mural is seen in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 19, 2025.
An anti-US mural is seen in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 19, 2025.

Iran's judiciary has announced legal action against the heads of two media outlets following their commentary on the ongoing nuclear negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the United States.

The judiciary's news agency Mizan reported on Saturday that "disrespectful remarks by the directors of two media outlets regarding the Iran-America negotiations led to charges being filed against them."

The agency did not initially name the individuals involved.

However, the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency later identified the two as Mostafa Faghihi, owner of the Entekhab News Website, and Sajjad Abedi, managing editor of Talkhand-e Siasi (Political Satire).

The move comes shortly after a commentary on Raja News, another outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guard, criticized what it described as a rise in "fake news, rumors, and false accusations" against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in both online spaces and some official media.

Raja News specifically accused Faghihi of labeling critics of the nuclear talks as "hardliners with clichéd and nauseating" rhetoric.

The outlet also said that Abedi had dismissed Khamenei's recent statement about not making the country's issues dependent on negotiations as "nonsense."

Abedi responded on the social media platform X, saying that his comment was directed at the hardliners' remarks, not Khamenei's.

Khamenei has shifted his stance on talks since February when he described negotiating with US President Donald Trump as "dishonorable" and "irrational," but less than two months later, he greenlit indirect talks with the US.

This is not the first instance of the Iranian judiciary taking action against media figures commenting on the nuclear issue.

Earlier this month, Mizan reported charges against Hesamoddin Ashena, a former head of the Strategic Studies Center under former president Rouhani's administration, for a social media post criticizing the Islamic Republic authorities regarding Iran's approach to negotiations with the US.

The reformist Shargh daily also offered a public apology after it published a report about the potential renewed role of Mohammad Javad Zarif in the US talks.

Additionally, the Press Supervisory Board issued a warning to the editor-in-chief of the hardline Kayhan daily, which is managed by Khamenei's representative, for threats of assassination against President Donald Trump for the 2020 killing of IRGC's Qasem Soleimani.