Shafaq News / An Iranian official tipped on Wednesday, that Tehran will shut down several foreign language channels affiliated to The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), due to financial strains.
The head of the external services of IRIB, Payman Jebelli, said that the decision includes various channels, like "Al-Alam", which broadcasts in Arabic and Press TV channel which broadcasts in English.
"Iran International" website quoted from Jebelli that the authorities decided earlier to close Iran's Dari radio, that had broadcasted for 40 years from the Afghan capital "Kabul", for accumulating debt, adding that in the past five months, there were no allocation to any amount of foreign currency (dollar, euro, dirham or dinar) to IRIB.
In the Same context, Jebelli accused the President Hassan Rouhani of "negligence" adding that, "Rouhani's administration has refused to allocate foreign currency funds to the state's broadcaster".
It is noteworthy that Tehran has been suffering from a stifling economic crisis, since the United States sanctions were re-imposed last year, causing the local currency to lose nearly half its value.