Hackers target Iran state TV’s transmission to broadcast exiled crown prince

The hacking comes as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered anti-government demonstrations reached at least 3,919 people killed, activists said.

Hackers have disrupted Iranian state television satellite transmissions to air footage supporting the country’s exiled crown prince, and calling on security forces to not “point your weapons at the people”, online video revealed.

The hacking comes as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered anti-government demonstrations reached at least 3,919 people killed, activists said.

They fear the number will grow far higher as information leaks out of a country still gripped by the government’s decision to shut down the internet.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high between the United States and Iran over the crackdown after American president Donald Trump drew two red lines for the Islamic Republic – the killing of peaceful protesters and Tehran conducting mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.

A US aircraft carrier, which days earlier had been in the South China Sea, passed Singapore overnight to enter the Strait of Malacca – putting it on a route that could bring it to the Middle East.

The footage aired on Sunday night across multiple channels broadcast by satellite from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the country’s state broadcaster which has a monopoly on television and radio broadcasting.

The video aired two clips of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, then included footage of security forces and others in what appeared to be Iranian police uniforms.

It claimed without offering evidence others had “laid down their weapons and swore an oath of allegiance to the people”.

“This is a message to the army and security forces,” one graphic read. “Don’t point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran.” The semi-official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a statement from the state broadcaster acknowledging that the signal in “some areas of the country was momentarily disrupted by an unknown source”. It did not discuss what had been aired.

A statement from the crown prince’s office acknowledged the disruption that showed the crown prince. It did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the hack.

“I have a special message for the military. You are the national army of Iran, not the Islamic Republic army,” Crown Prince Pahlavi said in the hacked broadcast. “You have a duty to protect your own lives. You don’t have much time left. Join the people as soon as possible.” Social media footage shared abroad, possibly from those with Starlink satellites to get around the internet shutdown, showed the hack in progress across multiple channels.

Pahlavi’s father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled Iran ahead of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pahlavi, the son, urged protesters onto the streets on January 8 as Iranian authorities shut down the internet and drastically intensified their crackdown.

How much support Pahlavi has inside of Iran remains an open question, though there have been pro-shah cries at the demonstrations.