Tehran, 16 August (AKI) - Hundreds of police in Tehran have begun dismantling satellite antenna dishes from the city's rooftops - part of a campaign to prevent Iranians from watching Western television programmes. The move follows a recent police order that all satellite dishes - officially banned but tolerated until now - be removed. The campaign against satellite television was launched by the Minister for Culture and Islamic Orientation, Hassan Saffar Harandi, who said "we have to halt the West's cultural offensive," on Iran. Some observers believe that the clampdown is aimed at keeping the government's control over news regarding Iran's dispute with the international community regarding its nuclear programme.
The government on Tuesday reiterated its intention to respond to a package of incentives, devised by the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, to persuade Tehran to drop its uranium enrichment plans. In recent months, all news coverage on the issue in Iran has had to be done with the approval of the Supreme Council of National Security, prompting people who wish to be informed by non-government sources to watch and listen to television and radio programmes broadcast from abroad.