TEHRAN , Iran ( CNN ) -- The activities of the week-old BBC Persian TV channel are illegal , a top Iranian official said Wednesday , the semi-official Fars news agency reported . BBC says the news it broadcasts on the channel is gathered from abroad , using sources within Iran . The minister of culture and Islamic guidance , Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi , also banned Iranian journalists and artists from working for the channel . A BBC spokesman in London , England , said the corporation is breaking no laws in Iran . BBC Persian TV launched January 14 , broadcasting in Farsi to Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan , the BBC spokesman said . It joins the 69-year-old BBC Persian radio service and the Web site BBCPersian.com , launched in 2001 . The TV channel offers mixed programming , with news and current affairs for eight hours a day and documentaries and debates on arts , culture and science filling out the schedule , the spokesman said . Harandi did not say the BBC channel was breaking any laws in the remarks carried by Fars . `` Considering the BBC 's history of creating chaos in Iran , and its efforts to set the various strata of Iranian society against each other , the presence of the BBC Persian TV in the Islamic Republic is deemed to be illegal , '' he said . Harandi added that various government officials had declared that cooperating with the channel would lead to problems for Iranian professionals , the news agency said . `` We are closely monitoring the English language BBC as well , which is working in Iran legally , and if they produce programs for the use of the BBC Persian TV , we shall then take action against them ( BBC English ) , '' he said . `` And in that case , the country 's security officials will respond appropriately . '' The BBC spokesman said it is against the law for the channel to report and gather news in Iran , so the news it broadcasts on the channel is gathered from abroad , using sources and contacts within Iran . Correspondents for BBC Persian do not work in Iran , he added . `` We would like to have BBC Persian correspondents in Iran , and we continue to seek a dialogue with the Iranian authorities to get accreditation for that , '' said the spokesman , who asked not to be named . `` What we are doing is not illegal , '' he said . The Iranian minister 's comments call to mind modern broadcasting folklore about the BBC 's role in the Iranian revolution . A BBC Radio 4 documentary in 2005 said it had evidence that a radio newsreader inserted the word `` exactly '' into a midnight timecheck one summer night in 1953 , a code word to the shah of Iran that Britain supported his plans for a coup . The shah had selected the word , the documentary said , and the BBC broadcast the word at the request of the government . Officially , the BBC has never acknowledged the code word plot . The BBC spokesman declined to comment on a possible connection . Harandi said the planning of the BBC Persian TV channel `` was not done with good will , '' Fars reported . The minister asked Iranian artists to obtain the proper permits for working with any foreign arts and cultural group , `` otherwise they shall have to accept responsibility for their cooperation with those foreign organizations , '' according to Fars . -- CNN 's Shirzad Bozorgmehr in Tehran and Melissa Gray in London contributed to this report .
Iran also bans Iranian journalists and artists from working for the channel . BBC spokesman says British broadcaster is breaking no laws in Iran . BBC Persian TV launched January 14 , broadcasting in Farsi . Channel shows news , documentaries , debates on arts , culture and science .