A television host for Iran International, a London-based Iranian news organization, was stabbed multiple times by a group of attackers outside his home on Friday.
Journalist Pouria Zeraati is in a stable condition in hospital, despite receiving stab wounds all over his body, according to Iran International.
Zeraati hosts the Last Word, which reports critically on Iran’s Islamic Republic government, among other geopolitical issues such as Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
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The identities of the attackers are unknown, but the brutal incident is being investigated by a specialist counter-terrorism unit of the London’s Metropolitan Police, according to the BBC.
The decision to assign counter-terrorism officers was based on “the victim’s occupation as a journalist at a Persian-language media organisation based in the U.K.,” and “coupled with the fact that there has been a number of threats directed towards this group of journalists,” police told the outlet.
The attack against Zeraati comes just months after an ITV report uncovered a secret plot by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to assassinate two of the outlet’s anchors. The plot, codenamed “the Wedding,” targeted anchors Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad, and was allegedly planned by Mohammed Reza Ansari, the commander of the IRGC. Orders were sent to “simply stab [the presenters] using a kitchen knife,” according to ITV.
