Hackers disrupt state TV broadcast with message supporting exiled crown prince
Jon Gambrell
Dubai: Online video showed hackers disrupting satellite broadcasts of Iranian state television supporting the country’s exiled crown prince and calling on security forces to “not point your guns at the people”, the latest disruption following nationwide protests in the country.
Activists said the hack brought the death toll in authorities’ crackdown on demonstrations to at least 3,941 people. They fear the number will grow much higher as information leaks from a country still reeling from a government decision to shut down the internet.
Meanwhile, tensions remain high due to crackdowns between the United States and Iran after President Donald Trump drew two red lines for the Islamic Republic – the killing of peaceful protesters and Tehran carrying out mass executions in the wake of demonstrations. A US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea a few days ago was on a route that could take it to the Middle East.
The footage was broadcast on multiple channels Sunday night, Iranian time, via satellite broadcast by the country’s state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
The video included two clips of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, as well as images of security forces and others wearing Iranian police uniforms. He claimed, without providing evidence, that others “laid down their weapons and swore allegiance to the people.”
“This is a message to the army and security forces,” one graphic said. “Do not point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran.”
The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a statement from the state broadcaster acknowledging that “the signal in some parts of the country was momentarily disrupted by an unknown source.” The content of what was published was not mentioned.
In the statement made by Pahlavi’s office, it was stated that the disruption experienced by the crown prince was accepted. He did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the hack. Although pro-Shah cries have been heard at demonstrations and nights since the crackdown, the level of Pahlavi’s support in Iran remains an open question.
The hack isn’t the first incident to disrupt Iran’s airwaves. in 1986 Washington Post The CIA reported that the prince’s allies had been supplied by Pahlavi to Iran with a “miniature television transmitter for a secret 11-minute broadcast” that pirated the signal of two stations in the Islamic Republic.
In 2022, many channels broadcast images showing leaders of the exiled opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalk and a graphic calling for the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
As tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high, ship tracking data analyzed this week by the AP showed that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other American military ships were in the Strait of Malacca after passing Singapore; it was a journey that could take them to the Middle East.
Lincoln was in the South China Sea with his strike group to act as a deterrent against China due to the tensions with Taiwan. Tracking data showed that USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., USS Michael Murphy and USS Spruance, all Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, were traveling with Lincoln.
Multiple reports in the US media, quoting unnamed officials, said the Lincoln, homeported in San Diego, was heading to the Middle East. His plane would likely need several days of travel to get within range of the area.
The absence of an aircraft carrier group or amphibious ready group in the Middle East likely complicates any discussion of a military operation targeting Iran, given the broad opposition of Gulf Arab states to such an attack.
Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to speak in Davos.
“Despite being invited last autumn, the tragic civilian deaths in Iran over the past few weeks mean that it is not appropriate for the Iranian government to be represented in Davos this year,” the forum said.
Iranian Ambassador to Switzerland Mahmoud Barimani called the decision “an irrational action that was undoubtedly carried out under the pressure and influence of anti-Iranian currents and radical American-Zionists.”
The Munich Security Conference separately withdrew invitations regarding pressure on Iranian government officials.
The death toll in the crackdown on protests exceeds the number of other unrest in Iran over decades and is reminiscent of the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency put the death toll at at least 3,941 on Monday (Iran time) and warned that the number would likely rise further.
Throughout the years of demonstrations and unrest in Iran, the agency has provided accurate information, relying on a network of activists who have verified all deaths reported within the country. The AP could not independently verify the toll.
Iranian officials did not give an exact death toll, but on Saturday Khamenei said “several thousand” people had died in the protests and blamed the deaths on the United States. This was the first indication from an Iranian leader of the extent of losses in the wave of protests that began on December 28 over Iran’s ailing economy.
The agency also reported that more than 25,700 people were arrested. The officials’ comments sparked fears that some of those detained in Iran, which has one of the world’s best executioners, would be executed.
“While murderers and sedition terrorists will be punished, Islamic mercy and tolerance will be applied to those who were deceived and had no (effective) role in the terrorist incident,” the Iranian president, head of judiciary and speaker of the parliament said in a statement on Monday.
