Iran International
The looming end of Payman Jebelli’s term as head of Iran’s state broadcaster has become a political test of whether the country’s new leadership is prepared to rein in hardliners accused of hijacking public media.
Iranians frustrated with years of one-sided, hardline coverage by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or IRIB, are increasingly watching the possible leadership change as an early sign of whether the system intends to correct course.
Radical anti-diplomacy factions have long used IRIB, whose chief is directly appointed by the supreme leader, to undermine pragmatist efforts toward a breakthrough with Washington.
That pressure continued even during the weeklong funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, when hardline voices on state television kept attacking attempts to shift the country away from wartime confrontation.
As Jebelli’s five-year term nears its end, criticism of his tenure and his ultraconservative Paydari Party allies has moved from reformist circles into more mainstream political commentary.
Jebelli and his cultural deputy Vahid Jalili, the brother of senior conservative politician Saeed Jalili, are widely regarded by critics as key figures behind IRIB’s hardline editorial line, particularly its hostility toward the government’s diplomatic and postwar agenda.
Many Iranians and media analysts now view a possible shakeup at the broadcaster as a signal of whether Iran’s new leadership is willing to curb unilateral rhetoric and restore a degree of institutional balance to state media.
A commentary on the moderate news site Asr-e Iran, headlined “Countdown to the Start of Changes in the IRIB,” said the political fallout over the broadcaster’s recent censorship of Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had reached senior levels of the establishment.
According to the report, the incident is no longer being treated as a routine editorial or executive mistake, but as a threat to national security and internal cohesion at a sensitive moment of postwar realignment.
The outlet said a political “countdown” had begun behind closed doors, pointing to a possible restructuring aimed at ending radical factions’ grip over the state’s most powerful media platform.
Asr-e Iran argued that IRIB had crossed a major political red line by turning a partisan media dispute into a broader governance crisis. It said a publicly funded broadcaster could not be allowed to become “the private clubhouse of an extremist faction” defying what it described as the official consensus of the governing branches.
The commentary said the current management model at IRIB had become an internal obstacle to the state’s strategic direction and called for a purge of the broadcaster’s leadership.
'IRIB deepens state-society divide'
Earlier this week, the pro-reform daily Arman-e Melli also described IRIB’s abrupt censorship of relatively moderate figures, including Ghalibaf, as evidence of a deeper institutional crisis within Iran’s political elite.
The paper accused IRIB’s leadership of being “hijacked by a narrow, radical faction allied with hardline rejectionists” and said the broadcaster was using public media to suppress even official state narratives when they conflicted with factional interests.
By censoring the head of the legislative branch at a time when he is seeking to move the country from wartime footing toward economic reconstruction, the daily argued, IRIB had openly damaged the appearance of internal unity.
Arman-e Melli said the broadcaster had deepened the divide between the state and society and shown that it could not tolerate even the official narrative of a conservative parliament speaker.
In a separate commentary in the same paper, reformist figure Hassan Rasouli offered a broader critique of factional infighting, arguing that public dissent by hardline elements weakens the state’s leverage in international negotiations.
Rasouli called for a temporary freeze on factional rivalry, saying domestic media platforms should serve as pillars of administrative cohesion during a critical geopolitical transition. He argued that projecting strategic stability abroad requires protecting the executive branch from internal sabotage at home.
The debate over IRIB comes as Iran’s new leadership faces growing scrutiny over whether promised or anticipated institutional changes will materialize.
Earlier this week, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was reinstated, disappointing many Iranians, particularly human rights advocates who had hoped for change.
If Jebelli and his team are also reinstated at IRIB, public frustration is likely to deepen and reinforce the perception that the system remains unwilling to reform its most unilateral and hardline institutions.
