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BBC has no bureau in Iran, only media visa given

Politics Materials 9 August 2015 17:40 (UTC +04:00)
Iranian Minister of Culture Ali Jannati said the Islamic Republic has not issued any permission for BBC to launch a bureau in the country
BBC has no bureau in Iran, only media visa given

Tehran, Iran, August 9

By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:

Iranian Minister of Culture Ali Jannati said the Islamic Republic has not issued any permission for BBC to launch a bureau in the country.

"We have not issued any permission for BBC World to have a bureau in Tehran. But their reporters come and receive permissions for making reports for a specific period of time, like other [news] channels in the world," he said, IRNA news agency reported August 9.

Of course the visas given to these reporters is a special kind, different from tourist visas, he further explained.

Jannati said while tourist visas are valid 30 days, press visas are valid for three to ten days.

The Iranian government has granted the BBC a license to report in Iran for the first time in six year, it was reported earlier this week.

A crew from the British Broadcasting Corporation has been permitted to report on the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the international community last month in Geneva.

According to Jannati, foreign agencies are given permission to make reports in Iran by a committee with representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Intelligence.

The Iranian government is sensitive about BBC and has many times accused it of running programs against the country's national security.

The BBC's permanent correspondent in Tehran, the late Jon Leyne, was expelled in the aftermath of the contested 2009 presidential election after reporting on unrest in Iran. The BBC bureau was shut down. At the time some elements in Tehran claimed that the BBC was involved in stirring opposition to the Iranian government and no BBC reporter has been allowed back into Iran until now.

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