Iran International () is a Persian language news television channel headquartered in Washington, D.C. aimed at Iranian viewers, and broadcasting free-to-air by satellite. Iran International was established in May 2017 in London but moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. in February 2023 due to increased threats from the Iranian government against Iran International’s UK-based journalists. It is available online, via radio and via satellite broadcasting worldwide including Iran. Iran International is owned by Volant Media UK Ltd. It is licensed in the United Kingdom to Global Media Circulating Ltd as an editorial news service based in London and is managed by DMA Media Ltd, which has bureaus in Paris, Istanbul, Kabul and Washington. Volant Media UK launched a sister channel in 2021, Afghanistan International. The channel has received media attention for its reporting on human rights violations, separatism in Iran, political developments, LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights in Iran and has twice been nominated for International Channel of the Year by the Association for International Broadcasting. It is also known that the channel has ties with the Saudi Arabian royal family, with some funding for the channel coming from people closely associated with the same, such that the Iranian government has specified the tethering of Iran International's activities as a prerequesite for normalization of its disturbed diplomatic relations with the Saudi administration. Iran International’s management do not deny that they receive funding by Saudi nationals but they do deny that they are linked to any government, including that of Saudi Arabia. In 2022, an independent survey carried out by the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) and reported by the AIB found that Iran International is the most influential source of independent news in Iran with 33% of the daily audience. More than half of the 27,000 participants surveyed also reported that they trusted Iran International "a lot" or "to some extent". During the Mahsa Amini protests on 9 November 2022, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ismail Khatib announced that Iran International had been declared a terrorist organization by the Islamic Republic of Iran, accused by the government of inciting riots protesting the regime. News sources have reported that the Iranian government is waging an "intimidation campaign" against personnel of the TV station, freezing their assets, interrogating their relatives and "threatening to snatch them from British streets if they do not quit their jobs". History and availability