As the country’s media is largely controlled by the Islamic regime, the main sources of news and information come from media outlets based abroad. Journalists and independent media outlets in Iran are constantly subjected to arbitrary arrests and very heavy sentences following grossly unfair trials before revolutionary courts.

The late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei often accused independent media outlets of being manipulated by foreign forces, and this has continued under his successor, Mojtaba Khamenei. As the head of the country's main political, military and judicial institutions, the supreme leader can order the arrests of journalists and sentence them to long prison terms, and even the death penalty.

Article 24 of the constitution guarantees press freedom, but the 1986 press law (amended in 2000 and 2009 to take online publications into account) allows the authorities to ensure that journalists do not “endanger the Islamic Republic”, “do not offend the clergy and the Supreme Leader” and do not “spread false information”.

Plagued by unprecedented sanctions and rife with corruption, Iran’s alarming economic situation, further exacerbated by the US-Israeli offensive of 2026, has had a major impact on the media and journalists. Several media outlets have been closed in recent years and around 100 journalists have lost their jobs.

Iranian civil society is dynamic and progressive, thanks, among other things, to the country’s youth and women, who demand more freedom and respect for fundamental rights, including the freedom to be informed. However, tackling subjects related to religion and women’s rights is still a difficult task.

Though the crackdown on freedom of information was already very intense, with journalists facing arrests, interrogations, imprisonments, surveillance, harassment, and threats, it became much worse after Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022 and the war in 2026. Simply speaking to the foreign press, even anonymously, can lead to death threats and even arrests by members of the regime. Since 2022, more than a hundred journalists – including a significant number of women – have been arrested. Even Iranian journalists based abroad were subjected to pressure ranging from online harassment to death threats.