[8] IRIB's head is appointed directly by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; according to The Guardian, it is close to the country's conservative political faction, especially the Revolutionary Guards.

"[13] According to mediachannel.org, "the government aims to use Press TV to counter what it sees as a steady stream of Western propaganda against Iran as well as offer an alternative view of world news".

[15] In an article for The Guardian in July 2009, Salih wrote that Press TV was "willing to give a platform to legitimate actors whom the western media will not touch, such as Hamas and Hezbollah".

While she was reassured on editorial independence from Tehran, Mills doubted she would be able to talk about torture in Iran or Neda Agha-Soltan, who was shot dead in the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests.

[32] Press TV has been accused by the UK's The Jewish Chronicle of broadcasting "the most disreputable of fringe causes", such as Holocaust denial,[33] and of antisemitic conspiracy theories by the Anti-Defamation League.

[34] It was accused in December 2011 by British journalist Nick Cohen of functioning as "a platform for the full fascist conspiracy theory of supernatural Jewish power".

[33] Cohen mentioned that the station featured "fascist ideologues such as Peter Rushton, the leader of the White Nationalist Party – an organisation that disproves the notion that the only thing further to the right of the BNP is the wall.

[40] In a 20 January 2015 article by Kevin Barrett on the station's website he claimed that "The Zionists created ISIL and sent it to fight Muslims and Christians in Syria and Iraq" while "New World Order Zionism is also targeting the USA for destruction".

[42] On the subject of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January), an editorial on the Press TV website in 2008 noted, "On this anniversary, we all need to mull over the faking of history and the Greatest Lie Ever Told".

[45] The document claims that the Auschwitz gas chambers were used for "benign" purposes only and said "the alleged massacre of Jewish people by gassing during World War II was scientifically impossible".

[48] In a 2014 article on the website, the Canadian writer Brandon Martinez described Auschwitz as having been an appealing place where Jews were able to participate in "cultural and leisure activities".

[50] On 10 June 2010, the United Kingdom's Channel 4 News interviewed Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, a documentary maker and Newsweek contributor, who was arrested while filming the protests following the contested Iranian presidential election in 2009.

Blakeney stated that "Some upset parents allege that there is a profit motive behind what they refer to as Canada's so-called child protective services" and asserted that an anti-terrorism squad, called INSET, was responsible for the abductions.

"[58] Another report made several charges against the Canadian government, including: Another program interviewed Alfred Lambremont Webre, who was described as an "international lawyer" based in Vancouver.

Webre stated Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is an "out and out Zionist" who is engaging in the "same repressive policies within Canada that Israel follows within its own territories against the Palestinian people."

Webre then described a conspiracy between Vancouver police and serial killer Robert Pickton "to commit ritual Satanic murders with high-ranking politicians."

Heinbecker stated that "The human rights situations in the two countries are scarcely comparable ... but our own very real shortcomings on Aboriginal issues ... are fodder for the Iranian efforts.

"[58] Iranian native Payam Akhavan, a professor of international law at McGill University, stated that "Canada's diplomatic posture has elevated its ranking in the regime's demonology charts.

[59] Nick Ferrari, a British radio presenter on LBC, resigned from his show on Press TV on 30 June 2009, following the response of the country's authorities to protests over the disputed Iranian presidential election.

"[62][63] In the article the Times also reported that Abdulrahman, who has also used the alias Dawud Salahuddin, is wanted by the FBI for shooting dead Ali Akbar Tabatabai, a former press attache at the pre-revolutionary Iranian embassy in Washington, in 1980.

[65] (However, he denied that it was "murderous", stating that it was "an act of war...In Islamic religious terms, taking a life is sometimes sanctioned and even highly praised, and I thought that event was just such a time.

We appeal to the people not to heed unverified reports about the alleged desecration of the Holy Koran which have only been aired by Press TV and no other television news channel in the world.

"[68] On 3 April 2012, Munich-based media regulator Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (BLM), announced it was removing Press TV from the SES Astra satellite, as they did not have a licence to broadcast in Europe.

[73] On 26 June 2008, Florida congressman Gus Bilirakis proposed to declare Press TV, Al-Alam News Network and several IRIB-affiliated channels as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.

"[74][75] On 15 September 2023, the United States Department of the Treasury added Press TV to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)'s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

[78] The extent of the fine was partly due to Press TV continuing to run the interview after warnings from Ofcom that the station had broken the Broadcasting Code.

[69] Defenders of Press TV, such as Geoffrey Alderman and the broadcaster's legal representative, Farooq Bajwa, referred to a leaked American diplomatic cable dated 4 February 2010.

[84][85] Geoffrey Alderman, who had appeared on Press TV to put the Zionist case, criticised the Ofcom decision, describing it as "thoroughly deplorable as well as palpably cynical" and "an affront to freedom of expression".

[90] In 2009, responding to Peter Wilby, Dominic Lawson and other critics, Mehdi Hasan, writing for the New Statesman, argued that "engaging with Iran, no matter who is in charge in Tehran, is a prerequisite for peace and progress in the region.