Top 9 Iranian English news websites
Best non-Persian language websites English speakers
Being an English speaker living in Tehran can be a tricky affair with nearly all of the city’s news websites only supporting Persian script. However, a growing number of the sites also now offer other options. This language addition is an amazing help for people who cannot read or write Persian.
English news websites in Iran
Pars Today
Pars Today is a recently launched website from the state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. The website is a new version of the former IRIB World Service which was changed in 2016.
PressTV
Press TV, launched more than ten years ago, is Iran’s only English language television news channel and website. The television channel offers live streaming and online television programmes about Iran and the world.
English language newspapers
Financial Tribune is Iran’s first independent English-language business daily available in both print and online. The paper was launched ahead of the Iranian nuclear deal in 2014 and has become one of the most-read English language dailies in its 4 years.
Tehran Times is another English-language newspaper and was established after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. According to the paper’s motto: “The Tehran Times is not the newspaper of the government; it must be a loud voice of the Islamic Revolution and the loudspeaker of the oppressed people of the world.”
Iran Daily is the third most-read English language paper, which was started in the mid-1990s as competition to Tehran Times. Like the previous two, the paper aims to highlight several aspects of news of Iran including politics and business.
Iranian news agencies
The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) is oldest news agency and was created after the Islamic Revolution from the old Pars News Agency staff and building. IRNA is one of the most respected news agencies operating in Tehran today.
Fars News Agency was created in 2003 to promote news about Iran in several languages, including Turkish, English and Arabic. To this day, it remains one of the most-read news agencies for its scoops on several issues.
Iran Front Page (IFP) is a unique news website about day-to-day activities in Iran. The website is neither a traditional newspaper nor news agency. However it offers a hybrid style which aims to translate local news in Iran to foreign audiences. One exciting aspect is their daily translation of the leading Persian dailies.
Tasnim News Agency is one of the newest news websites to launch in Iran back in 2012. The website has gained a regarded reputation in recent months and years for its reporting on several issues including banking and politics.
Its stated aims are to “[defend] the Islamic Republic against negative media propaganda campaign and providing our readers with realities on the ground about Iran and Islam
ICANA News Agency is Iran’s parliament news agency which reports news in multiple languages including English. The agency is a real political news agency and centres its reporting on the day-to-day activities of the country’s parliament (Majlis).
Want to know more about Tehran and its services, have a read of our Good to Know section!
