LONDON — The BBC said Monday that its Persian television signal was being jammed, adding that it was continuing to broadcast into Iran.
The British Broadcasting Corporation said its service for Persian speakers began facing persistent interference after it began coverage of the death of Iran's top dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.
It said the jamming began Sunday, affecting the Hotbird 6 satellite which carries the BBC's international television and radio services in various languages as well as services from other broadcasters.
BBC Persian television is also carried on other satellite networks.
"The fact that someone would go to these lengths to jam BBC Persian television's signal is indicative of the impact we make in Iran," BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks said.
"The Iranian people want to know the truth about what is happening in their country, and they know they will get impartial and independent news from the BBC. We'll do everything we can to give them that news."
Montazeri, 87, a fierce critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, died of an illness on Saturday night.
It is not the first time the BBC has suffered such signal interference.
In June the broadcaster said the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being jammed from Iran, disrupting its reports on the hotly-disputed presidential election.
The BBC said it was investigating ways to increase the options for its Persian-speaking audiences in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, which could include broadcasting on other satellites.
BBC Persian, launched in 1940, is one of the corporation's oldest non-English language services.
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