Lily Nikfar, Iran International’s Brussels correspondent, has been forced to move home because of her work. She spoke to Raw Dispatch about the threats she faces from the Iranian state and why Europe is not paying enough attention to Iran.
Nikfar has been Iran International’s Brussels correspondent since 2025. She learned journalism on the job, and she describes that path below.
She grew up in the 1980s and 1990s in Maku, north-west Iran, near the border with Turkey, speaking Azeri at home and Persian at school. Her father, a teacher, missed her birth because he had been imprisoned for his activism. He was released after two months but struggled to find work for many years. Around the dinner table, the talk was always of news, politics and more news.
Nikfar studied customs administration at university and built a career in transport and international logistics in the 2010s. Away from the office, she worked on her photography and wrote anonymous articles on the prospects for political reform under Mohammad Khatami and how those hopes later faded.
In 2018 she moved to Istanbul, a city she instantly fell in love with. Having grown up speaking Azeri and watching Turkish television from across the border, she speaks Turkish like a native.
A First Break on Live Television
Her break in journalism came on 29 October 2018, the 95th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened Istanbul’s new mega-airport. It was a huge national celebration, but Iran International had no local correspondent – until it persuaded Nikfar to spend the day doing pieces to camera for the channel.
She soon became a regular contributor, covering Turkish and international politics. “I started like that. I learned my journalism in the field,” she said.
Like France 24 correspondent Hussein Hasan, Nikfar worked in Turkey travelling across the country for almost five years to cover earthquakes, the conflict in Syria and people crossing the border from Iran.
Threats From Tehran
As her profile rose, she drew the attention of Iran’s authorities.
“When I began this job, I was aware of some sort of threats, but I didn’t take it that seriously because I didn’t cover Iran-related news.”
“I was threatened online and followed in the streets. I had to move apartment. They called my mum in Iran and told her to tell me to come back and they will give me a job.”
As Iran International’s only correspondent in Istanbul, Nikfar was isolated. But the channel has a dedicated safety team, which tightened her security measures.
A Pattern of Attacks
Working for Iran International carries serious risk, and several of its journalists have been targeted in recent years.
According to Nikfar, the risks grew in 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. Her death sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement.
“It was around this time that the threat became more serious.” Nikfar recalled reporting from an Islamic centre in London where pro-regime demonstrations were taking place. “The supporters were blocking our work, threatening us and stole our equipment, but the British police did nothing.”
From Voice of America to Brussels
From 2022, Nikfar started reporting intermittently from London for Voice of America (VOA). In late 2024, she agreed with VOA to relocate to Brussels. She moved in March 2025, just as Donald Trump’s new administration acted to shut down VOA’s parent agency. Nikfar’s VOA contract went with it.
Luckily, Iran International was looking for someone in Brussels, she says, and asked her to start working for them again.
Covering Iran From Europe
Today Nikfar covers European and international politics, Russia and Ukraine, and Iran and its diaspora. “Since the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and the protests last January, the Iranian community in Europe is very active. I chase them to cover their stories.”
She feels safer in Brussels, but she is not complacent. “They cannot send IRGC members to Brussels, but they can hire guys from other countries.”
What worries her most is a lack of awareness of the situation in Iran. She accuses some media of double standards, covering “a lot of what is happening in Gaza, but they are silent about what is happening in Iran.”
“The Iranian government and the Iranian people are totally different concepts,” she says. “If the Iranian government is supporting Gaza, it does not mean that they are advocates for human rights, because they kill their own people every day.”
Frequently Asked Questions
How serious is the threat to exiled Iranian journalists?
In April 2026, incendiary devices were thrown into a car park near Iran International’s London studios with the broadcaster noting the arrest of three men and the Committee to Protect Journalists calling on UK authorities to put additional protection in place for exiled Iranian journalists.
In July 2026, the British government repeated the conclusions of the judge that a March 2024 attack, by stabbing, on presenter Pouria Zeraati, was carried out “in the interests of, and on behalf of, the Iranian state”. And an ITV News investigation also alleged that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was plotting to kill presenters Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad in London in 2022.
Sources
- ITV News: Iran spy plot to kill two news presenters in London uncovered by double agent — https://www.itv.com/news/2023-12-20/iran-spy-plot-to-kill-two-news-presenters-in-london-uncovered-by-double-agent
- BBC News: Pouria Zeraati stabbing — https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24y2pr3dvyo
- UK Foreign Office: FCDO summons Iranian chargé d’affaires over attack on Iran International journalist — https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fcdo-summons-iranian-charge-daffaires-over-attack-on-iran-international-journalist
- CPJ: 3 arrested after arson attack on London-based Iran International — https://cpj.org/2026/04/3-arrested-after-arson-attack-on-london-based-iran-international/