TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a statement on Monday, mourning Israel’s murder of three journalists working for Lebanese television networks, describing the Israeli airstrike that killed them as a deliberate act of “terrorism” and an attempt to “assassinate the truth.”

The journalists — Ali Shoeib, Fatima Ftouni, and her brother, cameraman Mohamed Ftouni— were covering the ongoing Israeli aggression against their country along Lebanon’s southern border when they were killed in a deliberate attack by the Israeli military. The three worked for Al-Manar and Al-Mayadeen and had long been covering Israeli crimes against the Lebanese. 

In his message, Iran’s top diplomat said the strike was not merely the loss of media personnel but a serious blow to the conscience of the international community. He said Israel had carried out a “targeted assassination” with motives beyond the elimination of individual journalists, calling it a clear attempt to silence those who narrate reality on the ground.

“The Israeli regime has a long record of targeting media professionals, just as it does in its other crimes,” the foreign minister said in his statement. He added that the attack violated international laws and conventions meant to protect journalists in conflict zones, but that such legal frameworks had “never been able to restrain the regime’s brutal nature.”

Araghchi also warned that the repeated killing of reporters in Israeli strikes reflected a broader strategy to restrict freedom of expression. He called on the international community to take effective action to protect journalists and ensure that those responsible for such attacks are held accountable.

“The path that these brave journalists took in pursuit of truth, and on which they lost their lives, will never be extinguished,” he said. “It will continue with even greater determination.”

Israel has killed over 270 journalists in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran over the past two and a half years.