Iranian state television has begun broadcasting weapons training programmes, including lessons on how to use rifles and machine guns, marking a shift in the type of content aired by the country’s public broadcaster.
The programmes show how to assemble and disassemble Kalashnikov rifles and PK machine guns.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the country’s only television network, is controlled by hardliners, and its director is appointed by Iran’s supreme leader.
In one live broadcast on Channel 3, dedicated to Kalashnikov training, a masked man wearing an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) uniform demonstrated how to use the weapon.
The programme’s host then prepared the rifle and asked the IRGC officer for permission to shoot at a UAE flag in the studio, which he then did on air.
