Iran's Parliament Advances Bill to Criminalize Contact With 'Hostile' Foreign Media

Iran's parliament on Sunday approved the general principles of a new bill that would criminalise interviews and other communications with media outlets deemed hostile to the Islamic Republic, including any outlet financed or backed by the United States or Israel, according to Iranian state-linked media reports.

What the bill proposes

Under the draft legislation, Iranian citizens who give interviews to or otherwise engage with media designated as hostile would face six months to two years in prison. The bill goes further than existing rules by also covering interactions with other, non-designated foreign media: those would require advance notification to Iran's intelligence ministry. Separately, any contact with foreign embassies, international organisation offices or other non-Iranian institutions without prior notification and written approval from the foreign ministry would carry fines and the loss of certain social rights.

The legislation would also toughen penalties for economic offences carried out under foreign direction or supervision, bar individuals from sharing information with foreigners without intelligence ministry clearance, and restrict scientific and academic cooperation with foreign institutions that fall outside an approved list. Lawmakers have approved only the bill's general framework so far; its individual provisions still need to be debated and passed, and the full text must clear Iran's Guardian Council before it can take effect.

Part of a broader crackdown

The bill builds on a law passed in 2025 in the aftermath of Iran's 12-day war with Israel, which already imposed harsher penalties for alleged cooperation with "hostile states." That law has already been used against journalists: Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery was sentenced earlier this month to 15 years in prison, with the charges against her including giving interviews to media outlets Tehran considers hostile and providing photographs to organisations linked to the US and Israel.

Supporters of the new bill have framed it as a necessary tool to counter foreign intelligence penetration at a time of heightened tension with Washington and Tel Aviv. Critics, including press freedom advocates, are likely to see it as a further tightening of restrictions on independent journalism and academic exchange inside Iran, building on a pattern of prosecutions against reporters, researchers and activists accused of unauthorised foreign contact.

The wider context

The move comes as Iran continues informal, indirect contacts with the United States over the terms of a broader de-escalation, even as domestic hardliners push to limit outside influence within the country. Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps has separately been reported to be backing Tehran's official negotiators in those talks through a discreet channel with Washington, underscoring the delicate balance the government is trying to strike between diplomatic engagement abroad and tightened information control at home.

The bill's next steps — detailed clause-by-clause debate in parliament, followed by Guardian Council review — mean it is unlikely to become enforceable law immediately. But its approval in principle signals where the current parliamentary majority stands on foreign media access, at a moment when Iran's relationship with Western and Israeli-linked outlets remains a politically sensitive fault line.

This article is an original editorial summary based on publicly reported information. It has been independently written for publication and does not reproduce content from any single source.