October 1, 2026
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Hackers disrupted Iranian state television satellite transmissions to air footage supporting the country's exiled crown prince and calling on security forces not to “point your weapons at the people,” online video showed early Monday, the latest disruption to follow nationwide protests in the country.
The hacking comes as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered the demonstrations reached at least 4,029 people, activists said. They fear the number will grow far higher as information leaks out of a country still gripped by the government's decision to shut down the internet. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had his invitation to speak at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, withdrawn over the killings.
Meanwhile, tensions remain high between the United States and Iran over the crackdown after President Donald Trump drew two red lines for the Islamic Republic — the killing of peaceful protesters and Tehran conducting mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.
The footage aired Sunday night across multiple channels broadcast by satellite from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the country's state broadcaster. The video aired two clips of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, then included footage of security forces and others in what appeared to be Iranian police uniforms. It claimed others had “laid down their weapons and swore an oath of allegiance to the people.”
“This is a message to the army and security forces,” one graphic read. “Don't point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran.”
The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a statement from the state broadcaster acknowledging that the signal in “some areas of the country was momentarily disrupted by an unknown source.” It did not discuss what had been aired.
A statement from Pahlavi's office acknowledged the disruption that showed the crown prince. It did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the hack. How much support Pahlavi has inside of Iran remains an open question, though there have been pro-shah cries at the demonstrations and at night since the crackdown.
Sunday's hack isn't the first to see Iranian airwaves disrupted. In 1986, The Washington Post reported that the CIA supplied the prince’s allies “a miniaturized television transmitter for an 11-minute clandestine broadcast” to Iran by Pahlavi that pirated the signal of two stations in the Islamic Republic.
In 2022, multiple channels aired footage showing leaders from the exiled opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and a graphic calling for the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for Araghchi to speak at Davos.
“Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year,” the forum said.
Araghchi denounced the decision, saying the forum “cancelled my appearance in Davos on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its U.S.-based proxies and apologists."
The Munich Security Conference separately withdrew the invitation for Iranian government officials over the crackdown.
The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency raised the death toll on Tuesday to at least 4,029, warning it likely would go higher.
It said of the dead, 3,786 were demonstrators, 180 were security forces, 28 were children, and 35 were people not demonstrating.
The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations and unrest in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country that confirms all reported fatalities. The AP has been unable to independently confirm the toll.
Iranian officials have not given a clear death toll, although on Saturday, Khamenei said the protests had left “several thousand” people dead and blamed the United States for the deaths. It was the first indication from an Iranian leader of the extent of the casualties from the wave of protests that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy.
The agency also reported over 26,000 people had been arrested. Comments from officials have led to fears of some of those detained being put to death in Iran, one of the world's top executioners.
“While the killers and seditious terrorists will be punished, Islamic mercy and leniency will be applied to those who were deceived and did not have (effective) roles in the terrorist event," a statement Monday from Iran's president, its judiciary chief, and parliament speaker said.
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