Iran's parliament, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis), has passed a law that bans interviews with media outlets the state classifies as "hostile," Qatar Tribune reports.

The measure, adopted by the Majlis, makes it a legally punishable act for individuals in Iran to give interviews or statements to foreign media organizations that the authorities have designated as hostile. The law does not simply target the outlets themselves. It reaches the people who speak to them.

What does the new law actually prohibit?

The law targets contact with what the Iranian state labels "hostile" media outlets. Under the ban, giving an interview to such an outlet becomes an offense in itself. The legislation uses the state's own designation of hostility as the trigger: once an outlet is classified as hostile, anyone in Iran who sits for an interview with it falls within the law's reach.

Iranian authorities have for years labeled a range of international Persian-language and foreign broadcasters as hostile entities. The new statute converts that political designation into a formal legal basis for prosecuting interview subjects.

Who approved it, and where does it apply?

The deciding body is Iran's parliament, the Majlis, in Tehran. The law applies within the jurisdiction of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a parliamentary bill, it follows the ordinary Iranian legislative route, which requires review by the Guardian Council before final confirmation — the standard constitutional step for any Majlis legislation.

What does the ruling change for journalists and sources?

For foreign media organizations covering Iran, the practical consequence is severe: the law criminalizes the act of speaking to them on the record. That strikes at the source-gathering side of journalism rather than the publishing side.

For Iranian citizens, officials, analysts and commentators, the risk calculus changes immediately. A person who previously might have given a quoted interview to an international outlet — even on an apolitical subject — now faces potential prosecution under a statutory ban. The law effectively extends the state's media controls from broadcasters to their potential interviewees.

For legal practitioners, the measure is significant in three respects:

• It creates individual criminal exposure for media contact, rather than only for the media organizations.
• It relies on an administrative or political classification of "hostility" as the legal trigger.
• It sits alongside Iran's existing press and national-security framework, which already restricts domestic reporting and contact with foreign outlets.

How does the law fit Iran's wider media environment?

Iran already ranks among the world's most restrictive jurisdictions for press freedom. Domestic outlets operate under licensing and content controls, and journalists have faced prosecution for national-security offenses. Foreign-based Persian-language media have long worked without access, relying on phone and online interviews with people inside the country.

The new law aims at exactly that pipeline. By penalizing the interviewee rather than the unreachable broadcaster, it creates a deterrent that operates inside Iran's borders, where enforcement is possible.

For international news organizations, compliance and safety planning now must account for the personal legal risk their Iranian sources carry. Standard editorial protections — anonymization, encrypted communication — address surveillance risk, but a statutory interview ban places the risk directly on the speaker, before any publication decision.

What comes next?

The law's implementing details — the penalty ranges, the body empowered to designate hostile outlets in individual cases, and any exceptions — will determine how aggressively prosecutors apply it. Until those enforcement patterns emerge, lawyers advising clients with Iran exposure, and editors running Iran desks, will treat any on-the-record contact with designated outlets as carrying statutory risk.

The Majlis passed the law as reported by Qatar Tribune. Further implementing guidance from Iranian authorities is expected to clarify its scope.