Iranian officials have praised journalists for their role in countering hostile disinformation and psychological warfare, stressing the importance of the media in safeguarding public awareness and national unity.
Iran’s Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, in a message marking National Journalists’ Day on Saturday, said committed journalists had stood alongside the country during the most difficult days of the past year.
“Committed journalists across the country, with courage and a sense of responsibility, safeguarded the boundaries of public awareness and national cohesion and, on the cognitive warfare front, confronted the enemy’s efforts at distortion, blackening and sowing division,” Ejei said.
“At a time when the entire world of infidelity and arrogance has imposed an existential war on our beloved Iran, the magnitude of journalists’ work is understood more than ever,” he added.
Journalists’ Day in Iran is observed on August 8, commemorating journalist Mahmoud Saremi, who was killed in Afghanistan in 1998.
‘Stronghold for safeguarding the truth’
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, in a message on National Journalists’ Day, described the media as a frontline for defending truth.
“The pen is an extension of the sword of justice, and the media is a stronghold for safeguarding the truth,” Qalibaf said.
“The children of this land will not allow the enemy to build its imagined victories upon public opinion,” he added.
‘Strategic allies and partners’
Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics said journalists play an important role in strengthening the country’s national power and deterrence amid hybrid warfare and psychological operations by enemies.
“In the conditions of hybrid warfare and the enemy’s psychological operations, truthful reporting, responsible accountability and safeguarding public opinion are part of the national power and deterrence of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the ministry said.
It described journalists as “strategic allies and partners” in shaping the discourse of comprehensive defense and Iran’s defense industrial development.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to remain powerful, intelligent and prepared on the fronts of defense, narrative and determination,” it said.
