Outlet profile

Tehran Times

Iranian state-aligned (hardline/conservative)

Owned byPublished by the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization (IIDO), a state-linked body in Iran. The IIDO also runs the Mehr News Agency and other outlets.

FundingMainly funded through the IIDO, which is supported by the Iranian state and its religious and cultural institutions. Advertising and sales play a minor role.

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The Tehran Times was founded in 1979, around the time of the Iranian Revolution, and is generally described as Iran's first English-language daily. It is published by the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, which promotes the Islamic Republic's ideology and operates outlets such as the Mehr News Agency. The paper serves as a channel for Iran's official and hardline views aimed at diplomats, foreign journalists and international readers. Its editorial line tends to support the Iranian government's foreign policy, including its nuclear stance, its regional alliances and its opposition to U.S. and Israeli policy. It tends to frame U.S. sanctions and military actions as aggression and to give Iranian officials' accounts the most prominence. Media-bias raters and press-freedom groups treat it as a state-aligned outlet and not an independent one. Iran's media operate under state licensing and censorship, which limits dissenting views in its pages. Since the war and blockade tensions of 2026, its coverage of Washington has been adversarial, though it also reports on diplomatic openings when Iranian officials present them.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-16; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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