In December 2019, Shanti Das of The Times reported that Iran is waging an "intimidation campaign" against personnel of the TV station, freezing their assets, interrogating their relatives and "threatening to snatch them from British streets if they do not quit their jobs". Iran's Ministry of Intelligence had previously named the employees of Iran International as "enemy of the state", writing on its website that those who "serve foreigners" and "betray the country" will be punished.[55] Same publication wrote in May 2020 that Iran International is thought to be target of a state-sponsored programme that "has sought to discredit its reporting and trace its followers" by creating replicas of its social media accounts.