Iranian state media has terminated a provincial television director following a significant broadcast incident during live coverage of the Islamic Revolution’s 47th anniversary celebrations. The event unfolded Wednesday in Sistan-Baluchistan province during nationwide rallies commemorating the 1979 revolution.
Reporter Musab Rasoulizad, while covering crowd participation at the government-organized event, inadvertently chanted “Marg bar Khamenei” (Death to Khamenei) instead of the customary anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans typically heard at such gatherings. The phrase directly targeted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s highest political and religious authority.
State television authorities announced immediate disciplinary measures, stating: “The broadcast director of Hamoun provincial TV channel has been dismissed following an error that occurred on the provincial network. The transmission operator and broadcast supervisor were suspended, with other staff involved referred to disciplinary committee.”
The official statement emphasized these actions were necessary to “maintain professional discipline and safeguard the media’s reputation.” Rasoulizad subsequently issued a video apology describing the incident as “a slip of the tongue and a blunder which was broadcast and became a pre-text for anti-revolutionaries.”
This broadcast controversy occurs against a backdrop of recent social unrest in Iran. Mass anti-government protests erupted in late December over economic grievances and living cost increases, peaking last month before subsiding. Iranian authorities acknowledge approximately 3,000 fatalities during the unrest, including security personnel and civilians, attributing violence to “terrorist acts” and foreign-instigated riots.
International monitoring organizations report significantly higher casualty figures. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) documents 7,002 deaths, including 6,506 protesters, during the recent period of civil unrest.