Hackers target Iran TV to broadcast exiled Pahlavi
Jon Gambrell |
Hackers have interrupted Iranian state television satellite transmissions to air messages from the exiled son of Iran’s last shah calling on security forces to not “point your weapons at the people”, footage online shows.
The hacking comes as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered the demonstrations reached at least 3919 people killed, activists said.
The footage aired on Sunday night local time across multiple channels broadcast by satellite from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the country’s state broadcaster which has a monopoly on television and radio broadcasting.
The video aired two clips of opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, then included footage of security forces and others in what appeared to be Iranian police uniforms.
It claimed without offering evidence others had “laid down their weapons and swore an oath of allegiance to the people”.
“This is a message to the army and security forces,” one graphic read. “Don’t point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran.”
The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a statement from the state broadcaster acknowledging the signal in “some areas of the country was momentarily disrupted by an unknown source”. It did not discuss what had been aired.
A statement from Pahlavi’s office acknowledged the disruption but did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the hack.
“I have a special message for the military. You are the national army of Iran, not the Islamic Republic army,” Pahlavi said in the hacked broadcast.
“You have a duty to protect your own lives. You don’t have much time left. Join the people as soon as possible.”
Social media footage shared abroad, possibly from those with Starlink satellites to get around the internet shutdown, showed the hack in progress across multiple channels. Pahlavi’s campaign also shared the footage.
It isn’t the first time Iranian airwaves have been disrupted. In 1986, The Washington Post reported the CIA supplied Pahlavi’s allies with a mini television transmitter for an 11-minute clandestine broadcast to Iran that pirated the signal of two stations in the Islamic Republic.
In 2022, multiple channels aired footage showing leaders from the exiled opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and a graphic calling for the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Pahlavi’s father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled Iran ahead of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Pahlavi, the son, urged protesters onto the streets on January 8 as Iranian authorities shut down the internet and drastically intensified their crackdown.
Pahlavi on Sunday vowed to return to Iran from exile in the US, in a video message on the social media platform X.
“The battle in Iran today is between occupation and liberation. The Iranian people have called for me to lead. I will return to Iran,” the 65-year-old wrote.
Iranians were taking action on the ground and it was now time for the international community to join them, he said.
“I will return to Iran. The people of Iran have risen to reclaim their country. History will honour those who stand with them.”
The death toll from the wave of protests that began on December 28 over Iran’s ailing economy exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency put the death toll on Sunday at at least 3919 people killed, warning it likely would go higher.
On Saturday, Khamenei said the protests had left “several thousand” people dead and blamed the United States for the deaths.
An Iranian official said on Sunday authorities had verified at least 5000 people had been killed in protests, including about 500 security personnel, blaming “terrorists and armed rioters” for killing “innocent Iranians”.
With Reuters and dpa
AP
