The Franco-Israeli head of Eutelsat, Michel de Rosen, has begun a new wave of attacks against Iranian TV channels.

In a letter to Asian and European satellite companies, de Rosen has threatened the companies to drop Iranian entertainment and news channels.

    In the letter obtained by Press TV, the Franco-Israeli Eutelsat chief has warned satellite companies to remove Iranian channels or prepare to face the consequences of defying his order. He stated the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) and the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) chief, Ezzatollah Zarqami, as the reason for the push to stop broadcasting Iranian channels.

De Rosen has threatened satellite companies that failing to comply with his orders will result in their assets being frozen, according to the new sanctions imposed against Iran by Washington, and their executives will no longer be allowed to travel to the US.

He has also warned satellite companies that failing to comply with his orders will also have consequences for them in the EU.

However, after examining the claims made by the Franco-Israeli Eutelsat chief and reviewing EU and US laws, Press TV found that de Rosen was attempting to manipulate satellite service providers and pressure them into dropping Iranian channels from the prominent satellites of the world.

    Michael Mann, the EU foreign policy spokesman, sent an email to Press TV in which he stated that the EU sanctions have no relation to the attacks against Iranian media outlets by Eutelsat and this company has arbitrarily adopted such measures.

It should also be noted that the new sanctions imposed by the US against Iran do not foresee any executive mechanism to restrict the activities of Iranian media or punitive measures against individuals and organizations working with Iranian media.

The Eutelsat chief has also set a deadline for smaller European companies to drop Iranian channels. He has given the Slovenia-based satellite communications company -- Satellite Telecommunications Network (STN) -- 48 hours to stop broadcasting the Arabic-language al-Alam channel.

Eutelsat attacks have not been limited to Press TV and al-Alam which are both networks with political and social programming.

The European satellite provider has attempted to prevent the broadcast of cultural and intellectual Iranian networks such as al-Kawthar and iFilm which broadcast dubbed Iranian films and TV series as well as Arabic-subbed shows.

Previously, Eutelsat had in a controversial move ordered Hispasat in Spain to stop broadcasting the Spanish-language Hispan TV as well as the English-language Press TV in Spain and Latin America.

    This measure was welcomed by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) which is one of the main members of the Zionist lobby. The committee described the measures taken by Eutelsat and Hispasat against Iranian media outlets the result of months of consultation with European satellite authorities and described it as a step towards countering the ever-growing Iranian influence on Western public opinion.

Spain’s third biggest party, the United Left, has reacted to the move, demanding in an official letter an explanation from Madrid for taking Iran’s Hispan TV and Press TV channels off Hispasat. The party has accused the Spanish government of collaborating with Zionist agents and described dropping Iranian channels as a result of consultations between high-ranking government officials and the Israeli lobby.

The main shareholder of Hispasat, Euteslat ordered the Spanish satellite provider to drop Iranian channels. Press TV and Hispan TV plan to employ seasoned European lawyers to sue the Franco-Israeli Eutelsat chief.

Source: PressTV