Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB interrupted a pre-recorded interview with parliament speaker and lead nuclear negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf midway through its Tuesday broadcast, triggering an immediate public protest from the legislature’s media centre. The centre stated the interview had been delivered more than two hours before airtime and that IRIB had a duty to coordinate any cuts. The broadcaster responded that the programme had been divided into two parts, with the second segment scheduled for Wednesday evening.

According to the parliamentary statement, the excised portions covered International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, the country’s frozen assets, and a $300 billion reconstruction credit. Iranian media reported that the cut occurred as Ghalibaf was detailing the previous Raisi government’s failed attempt to transfer $6 billion in blocked funds from South Korea to Qatar for humanitarian goods, and as he prepared to address what he called “Trump’s lies” and a “strategic message” from the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. In the aired section, Ghalibaf defended the memorandum of understanding with Washington, asserting it had enabled Iran to export more than 40 million barrels of oil after a blockade was lifted, compared with zero in the preceding fifty to sixty days.

Viewed from Tehran, the incident illuminates an intensifying factional battle over the terms of engagement with the United States in the wake of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death. Analysts in the capital note that IRIB’s leadership is dominated by figures close to ultra-conservative former negotiator Saeed Jalili and the Stability Front, who oppose the current diplomatic track. The selective censorship—the same broadcaster recently aired a live speech by a hardline MP without interruption—signals that the struggle is now being waged through control of the state media. Reformist-leaning outlets described the move as a “new innovation” of the Jalili-aligned television management, while conservative news sites argued it proved a single political faction holds sway over the main arteries of the state broadcaster.

The public clash comes as Mojtaba Khamenei consolidates his authority. Iran International, citing sources inside the country, reported that the new leader intends to replace judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei at the end of his first term, breaking with the tradition of two-term tenures, as part of a broader post-war rearrangement of power. The nuclear dossier and the fate of enriched uranium stockpiles remain deeply contested. On the eve of Ali Khamenei’s funeral, some Iranian commentators have sharply criticised both sides for dragging internal disputes into the public arena at a moment of national transition. The second part of the interview is expected to air, but the parliamentary media centre has not confirmed whether the cut material will be restored, leaving the dossier open as the next round of technical talks with the US delegation in Switzerland approaches.