Euro News Reproduces Iranian Propaganda

In reporting on the clashes between PDKI’s Peshmerga Forces and Iran’s Islamic guards (IRGC) on June 15 and 16, Euro News has, in contrast to some other international media outlets, breached standards of objectivity and impartiality. In a recent report, Euro News reproduced Iranian propaganda against the Kurdish movement. PDKI is considering taking legal action against Euro News.

Euro News published a story, which first surfaced on its Persian website and later in English, regarding the Iranian Islamist regime’s claim to have foiled the country’s “biggest terrorism plots ever” planned to target Tehran and other provinces.

While the Iranian regime attributed these so-called plots to Sunni jihadists and ISIL, Euro News has embedded a propaganda video from Iranian state television in its story, containing images of the dead bodies of six Peshmergas of PDKI who were martyred in clashes with Iranian forces.

In the Persian version of the story, there is a brief reference to the clashes in Shno (Oshnaviah) on June 15 and 16 that is completely adopted from Iranian propaganda which, contrary to the images of the six bodies, exaggerates the number of Peshmerga casualties and omits any reference to PDKI. Nor is there any account of PDKI’s press releases and statements on the clashes in Shno.

Moreover, the story has been framed in such a way that implies a link between “terrorist plots” by Sunni jihadists and the clashes between PDKI’s Peshmerga Forces and Iran’s Islamic guards (IRGC) in Shno.

In the English version of the same story, there is a reference to “Kurdish fighters” in the same sentence as “jihadist militant” attacks on Iran, thus associating the Kurdish movement with jihadists in the context of a story about purported terror plots by ISIL and other Sunni jihadists against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Time had a similar story, but unlike Euro News the above mentioned propaganda video from Iranian state television was not embedded in it. The Time also made a reference to PDKI, although it is unclear in what way it is relevant to mention the clashes between PDKI’s Peshmerga Forces and the IRGC in Shno in the context of the purported terror plots by Sunni jihadists.

The New York Times too reported that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has claimed to have foiled one of the Iran’s “biggest terrorism plots ever”, but the paper correctly pointed out that Iranian authorities have not provided any evidence to substantiate this claim. Furthermore, the New York Times did not make any reference to the clashes in Shno in that context. Instead the paper had a separate story the clashes in Shno on June 16.

Against that backdrop, the PDKI is considering taking legal action against Euro News for implying a link between PDKI and Islamist terrorists and purported terror plots in Iran.

We encourage our readers to write to the editors of Euro News and complain about the fact that they have reproduced Iranian propaganda.

In the present context, we wish to remind our readers that PDKI and other Kurdish organizations from eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan were among the first to take part in the war against ISIL in 2014. For example, PDKI’s Peshmerga Forces fought bravely against ISIL and took part in the liberation of Makhmour and Gwer in southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan.

Furthermore, it is worth pointing out that Iran’s support and funding of various terrorist groups throughout the Middle East is well known. For example, in a report by the Library of Congress on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security it is stated that Iran “provides financial, material, technological, or other support services to Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), all designated terrorist organizations under U.S. Executive Order 13224.”