Hackers target Iran state TV to broadcast exiled crown prince

TEHRAN

Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of Iran's ousted former Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, speaks during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Jan. 16, 2026.

Hackers disrupted Iranian state television satellite transmissions to air footage supporting the country's exiled crown prince and calling on security forces to not “point your weapons at the people,” online video showed early on Jan. 19.

The hacking comes as the death toll in a crackdown by authorities that smothered the demonstrations reached at least 3,919 people killed, 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.

The footage aired Jan. 18 night across multiple channels broadcast by satellite from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the country's state broadcaster which has a monopoly on television and radio broadcasting.

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 without offering evidence 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.”

“I have a special message for the military. You are the national army of Iran, not the Islamic Republic army,” Pahlavi said in the hacked broadcast. “You have a duty to protect your own lives. You don’t have much time left. Join the people as soon as possible.”

Social media footage shared abroad, possibly from those with Starlink satellites to get around the internet shutdown, showed the hack in progress across multiple channels. Pahlavi's campaign also shared the footage.