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Interview cut sparks protest
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB abruptly cut short a pre-recorded interview with Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during his discussion of negotiations with the United States, drawing an official response from the parliament’s media center.
“the $300 billion reconstruction fund outlined in the memorandum”
The parliament’s media center said key portions covering “claims regarding IAEA inspections of Iranian nuclear sites” and “the $300 billion reconstruction fund” were withheld from broadcast by IRIB without prior coordination, even though the footage was delivered more than two hours before airtime.
Iran International reported that IRIB later said the interview would continue in a second installment on Wednesday, after a black screen and a switch to other programming followed the abrupt cutoff.
In the leaked clips, Ghalibaf explained the mechanism for unfreezing roughly $12 billion in Iran’s blocked assets and cited a 2023 agreement for the release of $6 billion from the Joe Biden administration, while the Jamaran website reported an IRIB manager dismissed after a controversial interview with Mahmoud Nabavian had returned to the broadcaster.
Competing narratives inside Iran
Iran International said Parliament’s media office argued that IRIB gave no notice and that “The interview was stopped in the middle of its broadcast without any prior notice,” as the cut segment covered possible IAEA inspections, efforts to release frozen Iranian assets, and responses to remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The dispute also fed into a broader fight over who controls the official narrative, with Al-Jazeera Net describing how the incident “turned into a political dispute inside Iran” after circles close to the Parliament said the broadcaster treated the conversation as material that could be blocked.
Al-Jazeera Net reported that Parliament’s Information Center said the interview was recorded and delivered to IRIB more than two hours before its air time, but that its airing halted in the middle, and it said the minimum expectation was coordination in advance with the Parliament.
Within the parliament, Iranian media quoted MP Mojtaba Zarei describing what happened as unethical conduct by a faction operating outside the institutional framework within the state broadcaster, and calling for an immediate investigation of the matter.
Negotiations, Hormuz, and stakes
The broadcasting controversy unfolded alongside Iran-US diplomatic friction over the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, with IranWire saying the omitted segments included Ghalibaf’s responses to Donald Trump’s remarks and an elucidation of the June 17 message from Mojtaba Khamenei.
“does not include any agreement on handing over the management of the Hormuz Strait”
In parallel, Iranian debate over the deal’s viability centered on whether the agreement offers a “strategic breathing space” or reflects “American traps,” with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed describing how the nearly finalized memorandum’s text was not yet published as each side presented its own narration.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Kayhan said the 14-point understanding does not include any agreement on handing over the management of the Hormuz Strait, and it said the strait is Iran’s most important card that “stopped the enemy and forced” Trump to accept a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal account cited by بوابة الوسط said Ghalibaf told J.D. Vance that “we never negotiate under threat or pressure,” after Trump’s social-media threat to attack Iran if it did not stop supporting Hezbollah disrupted the fragile talks in Switzerland.
