Iran advances bill to curb 'hostile' media interactions

Iran's parliament has approved the general principles of a bill that would criminalise interviews and other communications with media deemed hostile to the Islamic Republic, including US or Israeli media and outlets financed by either country.

Osman Salari, a member of parliament's judicial and legal commission, said the individual provisions of the bill, which is aimed at countering foreign intelligence influence, have yet to be debated and approved.

Reports about the bill's details should not yet be considered final, Salari told the Mizan news agency on Sunday.

Under the proposed bill, interviews or participation in discussions with such media would be banned and violations would carry six months to two years in prison.

Interviews with other foreign media would require notification to the intelligence ministry, while contact with foreign embassies, offices of foreign organisations or other non-Iranian institutions without notification and written permission from the foreign ministry would be punishable by a fine and deprivation of certain social rights.

The proposed legislation would also harden penalties for economic crimes committed under the direction or supervision of foreigners, ban providing information to foreigners without intelligence ministry approval and restrict scientific co-operation with foreign institutions outside an approved list.

It would punish policy or legislative proposals made under the direction of foreign intelligence services if they harm Iran's security or independence, with prison terms of up to 30 years. Cases would be heard by Revolutionary Courts.

The bill will be considered article by article in parliament. Once parliament approves the final text, it will have to be reviewed by the Guardian Council before becoming law.

The move is not the first time Iran has criminalised co-operation with foreign entities. A law passed in 2025 after a 12-day war with Israel imposed tougher penalties for alleged co-operation with hostile states.

Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery was sentenced this month to 15 years under that law over allegations that included giving interviews to media deemed hostile and providing photographs to US and Israel-linked organisations.

Meanwhile, an Iranian military official on Sunday said Qatar should allow an Iranian team to enter the country to investigate the fate of pilots whom Tehran says were captured by Qatari forces, Iranian media reported.

Qatar denies holding any Iranian pilots. Doha on Saturday said its search and rescue teams had found the remains of one pilot after Iranian aircraft violated Qatari airspace in March and failed to respond to attempts to contact them.

Qatar said it had contacted Iran to coordinate the handover of the remains and had invited Tehran to review details of its search and rescue operations, but had received no response.

Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff, said an Iranian Air Force expert and fact-finding team had been waiting for months to enter Qatar, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.