BBC services jammed in Middle East, Europe

LONDON (AFP) — The BBC said Thursday its services in the Middle East and Europe were being deliberately jammed, along with those of other broadcasters.

The jamming affected television and radio services in English and Arabic, the British Broadcasting Corporation said.

"The BBC, together with a number of other broadcasters, is experiencing deliberate, intermittent interference to its transmissions to audiences in Europe and the Middle East," said a spokeswoman.

"Impacted services include the BBC World News and BBC Arabic television channels and BBC World Service radio services in English and Arabic.

"Deliberate interference such as the jamming of transmissions is a blatant violation of international regulations concerning the use of satellites and we strongly condemn any practice designed to disrupt audiences' free access to news and information."

Previous attempts to jam BBC services in recent years have been traced to Iran.

The BBC did not say who or what it thought was behind the jamming this time, which affected Eutelsat satellites.

Eutelsat announced Monday it was turning off Iranian state television channels, based on reinforced European Union sanctions.

EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed a slew of tough new financial and trade sanctions on Iran aimed at forcing it to return to stalled talks on its contested nuclear programme.

The EU, the United States and Israel suspect Iran is seeking to acquire an atomic weapons capability through its controversial programme of uranium enrichment.

Tehran denies this, saying its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful and energy-related.