UK counterterrorism police investigate attack on Iranian TV presenter outside his London home
- Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Persian-language outlet Iran International, was stabbed in the leg on Friday. He is in a stable condition
- Police said Zeraati’s occupation and recent threats to UK-based Iranian journalists triggered investigation even though motivate for attack is unclear
British counterterrorism police are investigating the stabbing of an Iranian television presenter outside his home in London as concern grows over threats to a Farsi-language satellite news channel long critical of Iran’s theocratic government.
Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Persian-language outlet Iran International, was stabbed in the leg on Friday afternoon and is in stable condition at a hospital, the channel’s spokesman Adam Baillie said. His condition is not believed to be life-threatening.
The force said officers were keeping “an open mind”, but that “the victim’s occupation as a journalist at a Persian-language media organisation based in the UK” was being considered.
“While we continue to assess the circumstances of this incident, detectives are following a number of lines of inquiry and our priority at this time is to try and identify whoever was behind this attack and to arrest them,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.
“I appreciate the wider concern this incident may cause – particularly amongst others in similar lines of work, and those from Iranian communities.”