Free Republic

U.S. Plans Funding Broadcasts into Iran United Press International / Eli J. Lake October 29, 2003 /The State Department plans to fund some independent Iranian radio and television stations that broadcast into that country, a senior official told Congress yesterday. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. support for the private Iranian broadcasters would be on a "case- by-case basis." The department would consider funding for these stations through the Middle East Partnership Initiative, a program started last year to support democratic movements in the Middle East and spur the region's authoritarian...

Disinformation on Iraq By Jeff Kojac Washington Times 9.29.2003 When the electricity went out during Hurricane Isabel, Americans wanted to know when their lights would go on. The same goes for Iraq's citizens — who have been through far worse than Isabel. There is no doubt that the residents of Iraq have a hunger for information. Yet, the Coalition Provisional Authority is still struggling to get its message to the Iraqi people. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera, Iranian state-sponsored broadcasting and others are filling the information vacuum with a bias that is harmful to our mission in Iraq. The reconstruction of Iraq and...

Cuba Blows the Whistle on Iranian Jamming August 21, 2003 Asia Times Safa Haeri The Islamic Republic of Iran might lose one of its very few friends in the world, Cuba, which, according to American officials, has officially informed them that the Iranian embassy in Havana was the source of jamming programs send out by US-based Iranian radio and television stations aimed at mainland Iran. The jamming related to Telestar-12, a commercial communications satellite orbiting at 15 degrees west, 22,000 miles above the Atlantic, which carries programs by the American government as well as by Iranian radio and television stations...

TV Marti May go Satellite August 20, 2003 The Miami Herald Nancy San Martin The Bush administration will likely begin using satellite transmissions of TV Martí to make the U.S.-funded broadcasts more readily available for Cuban viewers and less susceptible to Cuban government interference, a U.S. official said Wednesday. ''It's possible that this is going to be happening soon,'' the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Herald. Cuba now easily jams regular TV Marti signals, broadcast from a balloon in the Florida Keys. Satellite broadcasts would be available via as many as 15,000 satellite dishes across...

Cuba says Iran was jamming US satellite broadcasts: State Department August 20, 2003 Cuba has told the United States that an Iranian diplomatic facility in or near Havana was the source of the jamming that disrupted US Farsi-language satellite broadcasts to Iran last month, the State Department said. And, in an unusual display of cooperation between the Cold War enemies, Havana appears to have actually acted on pledges to halt the interference which had prompted a formal protest from Washington, it said. "It has ceased," said Jo-Anne Prokopowicz, a department spokeswoman.

German and Japanese electronic firms involved in increase of regime's abilities of monitoring and Jamming SMCCDI (Information Service) Jul 16, 2003 The German "Siemens" and the Japanese "NEC" have sold special electronic devices which have increased the Islamic regime's ability of jamming the programs of the aboard based radio and TV networks. The materials were shipped, last month, and installed by German and S. Korean technicians in main Iranian cities, such as, Tehran and Esfhan. The Swedish "Ericsson" and the French "Alcatel" were till then, the main suppliers of such devices but have refused more direct sells due to the...

Cuba Accused of Blocking U.S. Satellite Feeds to Iran July 15, 2003 Miami Herald Nnancy San Martin WASHINGTON -- Transmitters in Cuba are jamming the signals of at least four U.S.-based television stations owned by Iranian Americans who are critical of the Tehran regime and use satellites to transmit programs to Iran, according to broadcasters and a private U.S. firm that has pinpointed the source of the interference. All the transmissions affected so far are beamed from Los Angeles -- which has a large population of Iranian exiles -- by privately owned stations that oppose Iran's theocratic government, officials of...

U.S. satellite feeds to Iran jammed Jamming signals are coming from Cuba, sources say NEW YORK, July 11 — U.S. government officials as well as Iranian Americans and communications satellite operators confirm that all U.S.-based satellite broadcasts to Iran are being jammed out of Cuba, one of Iran’s major allies and a major source of oil for the beleaguered Caribbean nation. “WE ARE well aware of the jamming,” said one senior U.S. official familiar with intelligence on the matter. He said that it was almost certainly done as part of an effort by the Iranian government to eliminate dissent during...

Havana, Cuba is the probable cause of the satellite jamming. The following is the text of a letter from Loral Skynet to Atlanta Direct-to-Home, the service providing satellite broadcast services to several Los Angeles based Iranian broadcasters. After hiring TLS, Inc. to identify the source of the jamming, they learned that the most probable source of the interference was Havana Cuba. The matter is now in the hands of the FCC.

Iranian Exiles Sow Change Via Satellite Islamic Government's Foes Tap TV, Web and Phones to Encourage Protests (Excerpted article) By Michael Dobbs Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, June 26, 2003; Page A01 LOS ANGELES -- "Good morning, Iran," says Zia Atabay, a former Iranian pop star who fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution. "And good evening, America." It is 9 a.m. in Tehran, 9 p.m. in Los Angeles. The previous evening, Iranian demonstrators roamed the streets of Tehran, shouting, "Down with the mullahs." From a makeshift television studio halfway around the world, Atabay is urging people to join the...

IRANIAN REGIME IMPOSES NEWS BLACKOUT. As of 7:30 a.m. Tehran time on 10 July, domestic Iranian broadcasting carried no news of the previous night's events. Moreover, the broadcasts of Los Angeles-based Persian-language satellite-television stations, such as Pars TV, Channel 1 TV, NITV, and Azadi TV, were being jammed and could not be received in Iran. Mobile-telephone service in parts of Tehran allegedly was shut down, too. The websites of the news agencies ISNA, Baztab, Mehr, and Fars were not updated during the night, and although it was updated regularly the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) carried no news about...

We have been reporting the jamming of the uplink signals of the LA based Iranian broadcasters. Here is the first detailed story on it.... U.S. satellite feeds to Iran jammed May be linked to the anniversary of student uprisings By Robert Windrem NBC NEWS PRODUCER NEW YORK, July 9 — U.S. government officials as well as Iranian Americans and communications satellite operators confirm that all U.S.-based satellite broadcasts to Iran are being jammed by an unknown group or individual, possibly Iranian agents operating out of Latin America. OVER THE PAST several months, private Iranian-American groups have begun increasing their broadcasts...

Iran Targets Satellite TV Owners July 03, 2003 Middle East Online middle-east-online.com TEHRAN - Iranian security forces have carried out a series of raids targetting private owners of banned satellite dishes in areas of Tehran that were the scene of recent anti-regime protests, witnesses and reports said Thursday. The official Iran newspaper said that for several days there has been "a new wave of dish seizures, particularly in districts that were the theatre of recent troubles," a reference to the June 10-20 student-led unrest. The protests swelled after many residents of Tehran were urged to take to the streets by...