A senior GOP congressional staffer told the Free Beacon that Reuters circumvented U.S. sanctions through its work with the Iranian broadcaster, committing ‘an actual crime that people go to jail for’
The Thomson Reuters news corporation provided nearly $4 million in services to Iran’s sanctioned state-controlled broadcaster, according to leaked internal documents that show the media conglomerate issuing payment requests to an Iranian executive closely tied to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Reuters provided the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) with roughly $3.8 million in news services, enabling the state-run propaganda organization to publish content on a variety of platforms including the English-language Press TV, according to private communications first published by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), an independent analyst group that monitors online threat networks.
Reuters supplied nearly $4 million worth of news services—including text, video, and photos—to IRIB and its subsidiary Press TV, U.S.-sanctioned state media arms linked to Iran’s IRGC and known for broadcasting forced confessions and regime propaganda.
Reuters communicated… pic.twitter.com/O0fwwjwKgY
— Network Contagion Research Institute (@ncri_io) July 30, 2025
A Reuters spokesman subsequently confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that it has sold “text newswires and video news products into Iran” for more than 10 years and disclosed this work to the Treasury Department, which administers sanctions on the IRIB and other Iranian propaganda fronts.
The relationship, which NCRI detailed for the first time through invoices and internal emails dating back to 2021, has raised questions about how the media conglomerate was able to work with a sanctioned Iranian entity and receive payment for these services. Reuters content, an NCRI analyst told the Free Beacon, has likely helped fuel the hardline regime’s propaganda efforts, including on its virulently anti-Israel Press TV website.
“Would Press TV be as effective in amplifying genocidal, anti-American propaganda without help from Reuters?” the NCRI analyst asked. “Providing services in support of Press TV is the modern-day equivalent of supplying Goebbels and his Nazi Ministry of Propaganda with syndicated news content in support of their propaganda efforts.”
Much of Press TV’s coverage includes comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, claims that Iran defeated Israel in the 12-Day War, and what amount to reprints of Hamas press releases.
A Reuters executive acknowledged in one 2021 email with an IRIB official that both IRIB and Press TV “have depended heavily on Reuters video and text services.”
“I want to make sure that these services continue without any interruptions,” the executive wrote when IRIB could not pay Reuters, likely as a result of U.S. sanctions, according to NCRI. “I am under pressure from my management to start receiving payments as soon as possible.”
Reuters had initially requested $3,882,116 in overdue payments from IRIB, with an executive writing, “Wishing you had a great day ahead and I look forward to hear back from you on the next steps and when to expect payments please.”
IRIB officials eventually introduced Reuters to a “third party agent” to circumvent the barriers preventing direct payment, the emails show.
Reuters was in direct contact with at least two regime officials: senior IRIB executive Peyman Jebelli and Press TV CEO Ahmad Noroozi. Jebelli maintains “close ties” with Khamenei and serves as a “key figure in Iran’s global information warfare strategy,” NCRI explained. Canada, the European Union, and the United States have sanctioned both Jebelli and Noroozi for “broadcasting coerced confessions and collaborating with Iranian intelligence.”
Reuters ultimately confirmed receiving payment from the “third party agent” in an email to “colleagues” at Press TV and the IRIB.
“As per our several interactions re the outstanding Reuters invoices associated with the Reuters contract (per attached), I am pleased to confirm that we have finally reached an agreement with a third party agent to act on our behalf in collecting payments from IRIB,” the email states. “This is great news and thank you to IRIB for helping us find this agent.”
The Reuters emails were addressed to both Jebelli and Noroozi, according to NCRI. The group noted in a more detailed analysis shared with the Free Beacon that the media company was likely “aware U.S. sanctions against IRIB and its affiliates impeded payment.”
Reuters, the research group determined, “ultimately accepted the use of a third party, introduced by IRIB, to facilitate the transaction.”
A 2024 annual investor report by the Thomson Reuters company disclosed that it had provided new services to “an Iranian broadcaster subject to the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act,” a 2012 law that broadened sanctions on Iran and IRIB. The investor report, however, did not disclose that the client was Press TV, according to NCRI.
The Reuters spokesman would not comment directly “on individual commercial agreements,” but confirmed to the Free Beacon that its work with Iran “has been validated in previous correspondence with the U.S. Department of Treasury and publicly disclosed in our annual reports for over 10 years.”
“We believe that it is vital that every government and its citizens have access to Reuters reliable and accurate news,” the spokesman said. “This practice applies equally in times of conflict.”
Reuters did not respond to subsequent Free Beacon questions about whether its work with IRIB is ongoing and whether it has concerns that IRIB uses its news content to spread the hardline regime’s propaganda.
The relationship has already received scrutiny on Capitol Hill. One senior GOP congressional staffer told the Free Beacon that Reuters may have violated sanctions through its work with IRIB.
“Reuters uniquely provides the IRIB with news content that the IRIB uses for legitimacy, which Reuters officials bragged about in these emails,” the staffer said. “That is a moral crime. Now it’s clear from the emails that Reuters knew it was circumventing American sanctions by using third-party cutouts. That is an actual crime that people go to jail for.”
Read the full article here
