TV man knifed in UK ‘hit by elite Iran unit’
A JOURNALIST stabbed outside his London home was targeted by an elite unit of Iran’s armed forces, it is said.
Pouria Zeraati was stabbed several times and was last night recovering from his wounds in hospital.
The 36-year-old is an anchor for news channel Iran International, which was branded a “terrorist organisation” by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps following criticisms of the regime.
The independent station, formed in 2017, has been a major thorn in Tehran’s side since becoming the most widely watched source of news in the country, where people view it illegally.
This newspaper revealed in 2020 how intelligence officers tried to lure one of its Uk-based journalists to Turkey to kidnap her after she reported on violent clashes that had rocked the Islamic country.
A dozen high-profile staff at the Persian language broadcaster had been contacted by Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and National Security with threats they will be snatched off London’s streets unless they leave their jobs.
In 2022, Iranian security forces
issued death threats against two of its journalists, which Scotland Yard termed “credible”.
Despite a police presence at its west London studios, the threats reached such a degree that the channel temporarily moved to Washington DC while it sought alternative premises.
It returned nine months ago in what insiders say are “completely secure” premises in north London.
Sources said the channel had been working closely with police since 2022 and had provided all staff with professional self-defence training.
Mr Zeraati was leaving his home in Wimbledon at 2.49pm on Friday when he was met by two men, who appeared to be waiting for him, sources said.
After stabbing him, they ran to a car where a third person was waiting to drive them away.
Last night it emerged the stabbing followed a period of alarming threats.
“Along with our colleagues at BBC Persian, Iran International has been under threat, very heavy threats, for the last 18 months since the IRGC said ‘we’re coming for you’,” said spokesman Adam Baillie.
“The scale has increased dramatically over the past few months. ‘Tell your relatives to stop working for this channel’ and so on.”
He added: “The IRGC get in through proxies – they don’t leave a paper trail.”
The regime has killed more than 100 dissidents across Europe since 1980, including the former Iranian Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said that while the attack’s motive is unclear, “the Iranian regime in the recent past had tried to harm Iran International and its journalists for their coverage and the platform it provides to critics and human rights activists”.
And Mr Baillie added: “The fact that counter-terrorism is leading the investigation probably speaks for itself.”
Iran’s charge d’affaires in the UK, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, said “we deny any link” to the incident.