Reuters, the news agency, reportedly circumvented U.S. sanctions and gave nearly $4 million to an Iranian state media broadcaster.
This news bombshell comes from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), which reported on Wednesday that Reuters “supplied nearly $4 million worth of news services — including text, video, and photos — to” the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
The Washington Free Beacon added in its own report filed Thursday that this money allowed IRIB “to publish content on a variety of platforms including the English-language Press TV.”
After a brief investigation by the Beacon, a Reuters spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that the news service has sold “text newswires and video news products into Iran” for over 10 years.
However, the spokesperson also claimed that Reuters has consistently disclosed these sales to the U.S. Treasury Department.
According to the Beacon, this relationship between Reuters and IRIB raises serious concerns about how Reuters was able to bypass the Treasury Department’s sanctions against Iran.
It also raises questions about how much of Reuters’ money, per se, has been used to fund Iran’s Press TV propaganda against Israel.
“Would Press TV be as effective in amplifying genocidal, anti-American propaganda without help from Reuters?” an anonymous NCRI analyst asked Reuters.
“Providing services in support of Press TV is the modern-day equivalent of supplying Goebbels and his Nazi Ministry of Propaganda with syndicated news content in support of their propaganda efforts,” the analyst added.
This propaganda “includes comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, claims that Iran defeated Israel in the 12-Day War, and what amount to reprints of Hamas press releases,” according to the Beacon.
One of NCRI’s sources of information includes a 2021 email between a Reuters executive and an IRIB official. In the email, the executive admitted how much IRIB and Press TV “have depended heavily on Reuters video and text services.”
“I want to make sure that these services continue without any interruptions,” the executive wrote at the time in response to IRIB failing to make a payment on time. “I am under pressure from my management to start receiving payments as soon as possible.”
IRIB reportedly owed $3,882,116 to Reuters at the time.
The catch was that IRIB was unable to make payments because of the new sanctions from the Biden administration. To bypass this, IRIB eventually set up a “third party agent” to handle payments.
Using the “third party agent,” Reuters eventually reached a payment agreement with IRIB.
“As per our several interactions re the outstanding Reuters invoices associated with the Reuters contract (per attached), I am pleased to confirm that we have finally reached an agreement with a third party agent to act on our behalf in collecting payments from IRIB,” Reuters confirmed in an email at the time. “This is great news and thank you to IRIB for helping us find this agent.”
Throughout this process, Reuters was reportedly in direct contact with two top Iranian government officials: senior IRIB executive Peyman Jebelli and Press TV CEO Ahmad Noroozi.
“Jebelli maintains ‘close ties’ with Khamenei and serves as a ‘key figure in Iran’s global information warfare strategy,'” according to the Beacon. “Canada, the European Union, and the United States have sanctioned both Jebelli and Noroozi for ‘broadcasting coerced confessions and collaborating with Iranian intelligence.'”
Congressional Republicans aren’t happy about these findings.
The relationship has already received scrutiny on Capitol Hill. One senior GOP congressional staffer told the Free Beacon that Reuters may have violated sanctions through its work with IRIB.
“Reuters uniquely provides the IRIB with news content that the IRIB uses for legitimacy, which Reuters officials bragged about in these emails,” a senior GOP congressional staffer said.
“That is a moral crime. Now it’s clear from the emails that Reuters knew it was circumventing American sanctions by using third-party cutouts. That is an actual crime that people go to jail for,” the staffer added.
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