Iran’s state broadcaster has been accused by a former conservative MP of deepening political divisions at a time of war, highlighting growing criticism of the organisation’s role as both a government communications arm and a powerful actor in domestic political life.
Hassan Shojaei, a former member of Iran’s parliament and former head of its Article 90 Commission, said the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) was failing a basic wartime duty by engaging in political and electoral manoeuvring instead of helping to protect national cohesion.
“Political activity by the state broadcaster in wartime is a betrayal of the country,” Shojaei said in a video published by Khabaronline.
His intervention is notable because it comes from a former conservative lawmaker rather than an opposition figure. Shojaei argued that social cohesion and national unity are vital to Iran’s ability to withstand military pressure and external threats. Yet, he said, the country’s official broadcaster has contributed to internal polarisation instead of easing it.
IRIB, which controls Iran’s main television and radio networks, is formally a public broadcaster but operates under the authority of the country’s political establishment. Critics have long accused it of privileging hardline viewpoints, marginalising dissent and presenting a narrow version of public debate.
Shojaei said that during a conflict, the broadcaster should offer reliable information, lower social tensions and avoid becoming a platform for factional rivalries. Its involvement in political disputes, he suggested, risks weakening the very unity Iranian authorities routinely present as essential to national security.
The criticism exposes a central contradiction in Iran’s media system: an organisation expected to speak in the name of the nation is repeatedly accused, including by figures from within the political system, of serving narrower ideological and political interests.
The video was published by Khabaronline.