:Mehr News Agency

{{Infobox website

| name = Mehr News Agency

| logo = Mehrnews Logo.svg

| type = Broadcast newspaper online and mobile

| industry = News agency

| founded = {{start date and age|2003|6|22|df=yes}}

| country = Iran

| language = Arabic, English, Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Urdu

| owner = Islamic Development Organization

| area_served = Worldwide

| CEO = Mohammad Mahdi Rahmati (since April 2023)
Mohammad shojaeian (from September 2019 to April 2023)
Ali Asgari (from April 2014 to September 2019)
Reza Moghadasi (from October 2010 to April 2014)
Parviz Esmaeili (from July 2003 to October 2010)

| headquarters = Tehran

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

The Mehr News Agency (MNA; {{langx|fa|خبرگزاری مهر|Xabâr-gozâri Mehr}}) is a semi-official news agency sponsored by the government of Iran.{{cite book |last1=Alimagham |first1=Pouya |title=Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108475440 |page=27}}{{Cite book |last=Mohammadi |first=Dr Majid |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Under_the_Leader_s_Cloak/4SApEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Under the Leader’s Cloak: How Khamenei’s Office Operates |date=2021-03-31 |publisher=Partridge Publishing Singapore |isbn=978-1-5437-6282-2 |language=en}} It is headquartered in Tehran, and is owned by the Iranian government's Islamic Development Organization (IIDO). Mehr publishes all content on its website under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.{{Cite web |title=عکس |url=https://www.mehrnews.com/service/photo |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=خبرگزاری مهر {{!}} اخبار ایران و جهان {{!}} Mehr News Agency |language=fa}}

History and profile

Established on 22 June 2003,{{cite web|title=Media Environment Guide: Iran |url=http://www.combatfilms.com/mediaoperations/Media%20Environment%20Guide%20Iran.pdf |publisher=BBC Monitoring |access-date=7 September 2014 |date=30 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801201438/http://www.combatfilms.com/mediaoperations/Media%20Environment%20Guide%20Iran.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2014 }} MNA is the most multilingual (transmitting news and photos in six languages) news agency in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first CEO and Director General was Parviz Esmaeili, and its current CEO and Director General is Mohammad Mahdi Rahmati.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/440470/Tehran-Times-new-managing-director-introduced|title=Tehran Times new managing director introduced|date=September 24, 2019|website=Tehran Times}} The director of the agency is selected by the Supreme Leader of Iran.

MNA includes coverage in the following areas:

Art (cinema, theater, music, visual arts)
Culture and literature (poetry, stories, books)
Religion and thought
Seminary and university
Modern Technology
Social
Economy
Political
International
Sports
Magazines{{clarify|date=April 2018}}
Photos
Provinces{{clarify|date=April 2018}}

MNA has five regional centers inside the country—northern, southern, central, eastern, and western Iran.

It has also stringers and correspondents in Europe, South America, Turkey, East Asia, and some Persian Gulf littoral states and CIS countries for the time–being and is extending them across the world.

It transmits news and photos in six languages of Persian, English, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu and Kurdish.

Employing more than 300 reporters and photographers dispatched in 30 provinces of the country, MNA provides the widest news coverage in Iran.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

International cooperation

The news agency was accepted as the 40th member of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA){{cite web|url=http://www.oananews.org/?M-P |title=Oana News |access-date=26 September 2013}} at the 13th General Assembly{{cite web|url=http://www.oananews.org/?C-7/24 |title=Oana News |publisher=Oana News|access-date=26 September 2013}} held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2007. The agency was the host agency of the OANAOrganization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies 31st Executive Board Meeting (EBM) and the 25th Editorial-Technical Experts Group (ETEG) Meeting in 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.oananews.org/content/31st-oana-executive-board-meeting |title=The 31st OANA Executive Board Meeting |work=Oana News|date=17 November 2011|access-date=26 September 2013}} It had also actively participated in two international summits – the 2009 World Media Summit{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12197820_6.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018083144/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12197820_6.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 18, 2009 |title=WMS opens at Great Hall of the People in Beijing|work=Xinhuanet|date=9 October 2009|access-date=26 September 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.worldmediasummit.org/chjbml0926-0.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417211544/http://www.worldmediasummit.org/chjbml0926-0.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-17 }} in Beijing, China, and the 2010 OANA Summit Congress{{cite web|url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2010/04/24/34/0701000000AEN20100424001800315F.HTML |title=Yonhap News |language=ko |date=24 April 2010|access-date=26 September 2013}} in Seoul, South Korea.

The agency was also a special guest of the III News Agencies’ World Congress (NAWC){{cite web|url=http://www.nawc.com.ar/|title=III News Agencies World Congress|work=Nawc|access-date=26 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626160853/http://www.nawc.com.ar/|archive-date=26 June 2012}} in Argentina from 19 to 23 October 2010.

MNA also participated in the Istanbul OANA General Assembly {{cite web|url=http://www.aa.com.tr/galeri/2010/OANA_General_Assembly/slides/OANASERKAN02.html|title=Anadolu Ajans|work=AA|access-date=26 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927233737/http://www.aa.com.tr/galeri/2010/OANA_General_Assembly/slides/OANASERKAN02.html|archive-date=27 September 2013}} in November 2010 and the OANA 26th ETEG - 32nd EBM meetings{{cite web|url=http://www.oananews.org/?C-7/32 |title=Oana News |access-date=26 September 2013}} in Ulaanbaatar in June 2011.

According to the OANA Secretary's report to the Istanbul Assembly, MNA, which has become OANA member since 2007, ranked second among the OANA member agencies in number of news and photos published on the organization's website. MNA initiated the OANA flag,[http://www.oananews.org/newflag/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017002539/http://www.oananews.org/newflag/|date=October 17, 2011}} and the 50-year-old OANA adopted the flag.

Criticism

In 2006, Mehr News Agency was described by the Anti-Defamation League as a "megaphone for notorious Holocaust deniers" because it had published interviews with Arthur Butz, Michael A. Hoffman II, Fredrick Toben, Paul Fromm, Mark Weber and Robert Faurisson.{{Cite web |title=Iranian News Agency is Megaphone for Notorious Holocaust Deniers |url=http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolocaustDenial_83/4868_83.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061227215730/http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolocaustDenial_83/4868_83.htm |archive-date=2006-12-27 |access-date=2019-02-06}}{{cite web|title=Peine avec sursis pour Faurisson|url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/010162345-peine-avec-sursis-pour-faurisson|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406093102/http://www.liberation.fr/societe/010162345-peine-avec-sursis-pour-faurisson|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 6, 2012|publisher=Libération|access-date=9 June 2010|date=4 October 2006}}