Jun 16, 2015

Satellite dishes that beam foreign programs into Iranian homes became a part of the Tehran rooftop landscape in the early 1990s. They have presented a problem ever since for conservative Iranian officials worried about a foreign cultural invasion into Iranian and conservative homes. Although satellite dishes became technically illegal in the mid-1990s, they continue to be ubiquitous across Iran. President Hassan Rouhani, who was asked about the signal blocking of satellite dishes in 2013 at a Council of Foreign Relations talk, said, “You can find it in every village in Iran.”

Besides jamming satellite signals, Iranian police have at times conducted raids into homes to collect these satellite dishes. These efforts are oftentimes highlighted by the authorities that bring along a news agency photographer to take pictures of police reprimanding homeowners, issuing fines and destroying satellite dishes. Some of the more over-the-top photographs even show police officers navigating tall buildings to destroy a dish hanging outside a window — as if conducting an acrobatic act. Some of these raids have even resulted in physical confrontations between police and homeowners.

Iranian homeowners, however, have not been deterred by these efforts from the police. Almost immediately, residents purchase another satellite dish. At worst, these collection efforts are nothing more than a publicity campaign, and at best, in a city with the population of Greater Tehran at nearly 12 million people, it's simply a cat-and-mouse game.

This is perhaps why the head of Iran’s Basij, Mohammad Reza Naghdi, one of the most conservative figures in Iran, has conceded that Iran’s strategy to eliminate satellite dishes from homes has not worked. Speaking to reporters on June 11, Naghdi said, “Satellite dishes must not be collected by force from households, but one must sit and talk with those who use satellite dishes and convince them [not to use them]. In actuality, discipline has to be created within. Because if there is no belief in the heart, no work will be fruitful [and] in this path, righteous groups can play a considerable role in this.”

By “righteous groups” Naghdi means the members of the Basij organization.