The Iranian Connection: How UK coronavirus relief funds made their way from London to Tehran

In response to these allegations, a government spokesperson for His Majesty’s Treasury said “The Job Retention Scheme kept people, families, and businesses afloat during a once-in-a-century pandemic, and millions of jobs would have been lost without it. Only people with British bank accounts were eligible for this scheme and all claims were risk assessed by HMRC.”

This is not the first time information from sensitive Press TV documents has found its way into the public domain. A previous tranche of hacked Press TV data published in February 2022 by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), an Iranian opposition group and quasi-religious cult, show communications between Mirtaleb and Peyman Jebelli, the head of Iran’s IRIB state propaganda network.

In these emails, Mirtaleb appears to be instructing Jebelli on how to circumvent sanctions by sending money through British banks. In one message to Jebelli, Mirtaleb writes: “The only safe way to send money is through banks in London. In this regard, many meetings with money exchange offices were held in London and Tehran, but due to the affiliation of Press TV with Iran, none of them were willing to cooperate with this office.”

Documents also show that a series of large transactions from “food” companies (ROOFOODSS LTD, O KRA EXPRESS 3 LTD and PROTEIN 4 LESS LTD) totalling tens of thousands of pounds were deposited into the bank account of London Broadcasting Partners LTD.

Press TV’s broadcasting license in the UK was revoked by Britain’s broadcasting regulator OFCOM in January 2012 for breaches of the 2003 Communications Act. The channel had previously been fined £100,000 by OFCOM for airing an interview with Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari that turned out to have been filmed under duress, as Bahari was in the custody of Iranian authorities at the time it was recorded.

Press TV is not the only questionable company to have received CJRS funds. Last year it was revealed that a London Islamic center run by a representative of the Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was awarded more than £100,000 in grants through the British government's pandemic-relief furlough scheme.

The tranche of data containing the information outlined above was leaked online by an Iranian anti-regime hacker group known as Black Reward, which posted the documents to its Telegram channel. Black Reward has previously claimed responsibility for several hacker attacks on Iranian government and financial services providers.

Mr. Mirtaleb and Press TV’s London bureau have both been approached for comment.