Iranian dissident news network received £650mn debt relief

The company that owns UK-based broadcaster Iran International received £650mn of debt relief from its shareholders, strengthening the balance sheet of the prominent platform for anti-regime voices.

The previously unreported debt-for-equity swap in December shored up the finances of the network, which claims to be the most watched Persian news channel and has burnt through hundreds of millions of pounds since it was founded with backing from British-Saudi investors in 2017.

It came shortly before mass protests erupted across Iran, marking the start of a turbulent period in which the regime killed thousands of demonstrators in a brutal crackdown. Weeks later the US and Israel launched a war on Iran, assassinating its longtime supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran International — which employs about 700 people globally — broadcasts into Iran from London through satellite, radio and a massive social media following. Critics accuse it of pushing a pro-war narrative and using its reach to promote Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of the last shah.

The network has not disclosed the source of its funding, a decision that has long unsettled some of its journalists, who have privately raised concerns about its editorial decisions, said a person with direct knowledge of its operations.

Iran International’s parent company, Volant Media UK, has lost more than £410mn in the past five years and it owed related entities about £482mn, according to its last set of accounts covering the financial year ending December 2024. Volant also runs a separate network called Afghanistan International.

Volant says it is editorially independent, has never received state funding from Saudi Arabia, Israel or elsewhere, and is backed by a consortium of private, commercial investors. It declined to comment on their identity.

Filings for Volant in the UK’s corporate registry show that an allotment of 648mn shares, valued at £648mn, was issued on December 13.

A separate confirmation statement shows that on the same date all of Volant’s original 50,000 shares were transferred from the British-Saudi film executive Adel Abdulkarim Alabdulkarim, who serves as Volant’s company director and secretary, to offshore company Info-Cast Cayman Limited.

The confirmation statement does not make any reference to the newly allotted shares or to whom they were allotted.

Abdulkarim remains listed as a person with significant control of Volant on the grounds he has the right to appoint or remove the majority of the company’s board of directors. Info-Cast Cayman was listed as the immediate parent company at year-end 2024.

The sole director of Info-Cast Cayman is Saleh Hussain Aldowais, according to Cayman corporate records consulted this month. A person with that name is the chief operations officer of state-backed Saudi Research and Media Group, the kingdom’s biggest media organisation. SRMG did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Iran International said existing shareholder debt was capitalised into equity “in order to strengthen the company’s balance sheet”.

“No new funds were introduced at that point,” he said, adding that the network “has never received funding from any government or state entity — including Saudi Arabia or Israel — whether directly or indirectly”.

He said: “Where individuals associated with the business hold other external commercial roles, those interests are entirely separate . . . held in a personal capacity and have no bearing on the editorial, operational or financial independence of the network.”

“Persistent claims that the channel is funded or directed by state actors are completely untrue and replicate Tehran talking points. In that, they echo a long-running disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the network.”

Saudi Arabia has sought to de-escalate tensions with Iran since agreeing to a 2023 deal to restore diplomatic relations with Tehran. It has condemned Iran’s recent attacks on the kingdom but is also supporting mediation efforts to end the war.

In 2022, Iran’s intelligence minister said the regime had designated Iran International as a “terrorist” organisation. A year later Iran International temporarily suspended its UK operations because of what it described as a “significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran”.

Pouria Zeraati, a presenter on the channel, was stabbed in London in 2024. Two Romanian men — George Stana and Nandito Badea — are on trial at London’s Woolwich Crown Court accused of wounding him. There was also an alleged arson attack on the network’s offices in April. Police have charged three people.

During the protests, Iran International prominently featured opposition and monarchist voices urging demonstrators to topple the Islamic republic, including Pahlavi’s calls to rise up against the regime and support the US-Israeli assault. Reza Mohaddes, an Iran International presenter, told AFP in January of the protesters that “we are fighting all together to get rid of this brutal regime”.

A spokesperson said Iran International was “not an opposition channel. We are covering Iran and reporting on what is happening there. Our editorial line is to give a voice to the people.”

The network is no longer regulated by Ofcom under full broadcasting rules because it is available in the UK only as an online streaming service. Iran International is a notified on-demand programme service, which means weaker rules, such as no obligations on impartiality or offence, but these do prohibit content that may incite violence or hatred.

Abdulkarim also serves as a director of OR Holdings and Investments Limited, the holding company of a TV and film production house that makes content for Iran International and has a Riyadh-based office.

It has made documentaries about Iran such as Rage Against the Regime: Iran and Khamenei: Genesis of a Dictator, as well as The Line: Saudi Arabia’s City of the Future in Neom. Abdulkarim is listed on IMDb as executive producer of these shows.

Additional reporting by Robert Wright