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President Donald Trump has casually boasted about the destruction of Iran’s infrastructure during the U.S.-Israeli war, including bridges, desalination plants, and major industries relied on by civilians. Among those attacks on infrastructure, but less reported on by the international press, has been the targeting of Iranian media.

Iran’s newsrooms, broadcasting studios, publishing houses, and adjacent businesses such as bookstores and pulp and paper companies have suffered serious damage due to the U.S.-Israeli military campaign. Already facing fragile labor protections and significant restrictions on free speech, journalists in Iran are now enduring even worse working conditions.

Iranian authorities have estimated that the damage resulting from the war since the beginning of the aggression on February 28 equals at least $300 billion. Still, it’s not immediately clear how much damage has been incurred by the media institutions that were targeted, and if short-term recovery can be expected.

Ironically, the 39-day bombing campaign that ended with a brief ceasefire on April 8 and a short-lived memorandum of understanding on June 17 didn’t spare the pocket-size foreign press corps based in Tehran, demonstrating the ways in which military campaigns can disrupt the free flow of information.

In the most high-profile case, the office of Qatar’s Al Araby TV in Tehran’s Heravi neighborhood was hit in Israeli airstrikes on March 29 that cut live broadcast, caused extensive damage to the building, and injured 10 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Journalists familiar with the case told Truthout they believe the TV bureau was deliberately targeted.

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Hazem Kallass, Al Araby TV’s Tehran bureau chief, said that, after the strikes, he and his colleagues used the streets of Tehran, coffee shops, and other public places as their workspace for nearly a month before they could find a new office.

“I entered the studio to do my first live broadcast of the day at 8:30 am. A few minutes later, around 8:40 am, while I was speaking in front of the camera during a live broadcast, the camera shook, pieces of the ceiling fell, the electricity went out, and I heard an explosion — and all of these happened within seconds,” he told Truthout.

He rushed out of the studio and saw a chaotic scene: shattered windows, doors, and elevator shafts blasted apart and strewn everywhere. According to Kallass, no explanation could be found for the attacks since there were no sensitive installations in the neighborhood where the building hosting the Al Araby TV office was located.

“What is certain is that there are no military or security centers nearby. Everyone knows that foreign media operates in this building,” he said. “This has been our office for several years, and it also houses the offices of several other foreign channels. The area is generally a commercial and business district, in addition to being a residential area.”

Al Araby TV’s reporting helped raise awareness of the most intense periods of bombing in Tehran, especially as not many international broadcasters are licensed to operate out of Iran. The network may have been targeted as its coverage diverged from the war-friendly line pursued by corporate media that elided the civilian suffering in Iran.

Headquartered in Qatar’s third largest city, Lusail, Al Araby TV airs programming in Arabic and is accessible worldwide, with its viewers mostly concentrated in the Middle East and Europe. It has more than 60 correspondents in bureaus around the world, including the United States. Its social media following includes 9.6 million followers on X (Twitter) and 5.7 million followers on Instagram.

In another event that received little attention outside of Iran, the office of Sazandegi Daily was extensively damaged in airstrikes that hit Tehran’s Pasdaran Street on March 6. The newsroom was also damaged during the 12-Day War that Israel launched against Iran in June 2025. Sazandegi is one of Iran’s major pro-reform newspapers employing several accomplished young journalists.

Most press freedom groups didn’t issue public reactions to these incidents. Although polls have shown the war on Iran has been historically........

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