Dave Sharma demands sanctions action on Iran-backed Press TV

Liberal senator Dave Sharma has demanded Penny Wong enforce sanctions on a listed Iran-backed media organisation operating in Australia.

Senator Fatima Payman at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Liberal senator Dave Sharma has demanded Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong investigate and properly enforce sanctions on a listed Iran-backed media organisation operating in Australia.

Press TV drew attention weeks ago when it interviewed Labor defector Fatima Payman during which she said women were treated better in Iran than in the West.

Senator Payman has since apologised for her comments and for attending a pro-Iran “propaganda” event.

On Wednesday, Senator Sharma wrote to Senator Wong to urge her to conduct a “full investigation and proper enforcement of the sanctions regime as it applies to Press TV”.

Press TV was sanctioned by the Albanese government in 2023, on the first anniversary of the incarceration – and subsequent death – of Iranian Mahsa Amini, who was detained for not wearing a hijab properly.

Senator Sharma said: “Press TV constitutes a tool of foreign interference of the Iranian state and is being used as such, including – as Senator Payman’s interview ­attests – to influence public opinion, shape perception, and exert control over the Iranian diaspora community in Australia.”

He said the operation of Press TV could attract criminal offences if found to be engaging with a sanctioned entity.

“For Press TV ... to be operating freely in Australia on commercial terms would almost certainly require the provision of assets to a designated entity and the third-party handling of assets involving a designated entity, both of which constitute a criminal ­offence under the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011,” Senator Sharma said.

Individuals found to have ­engaged with a sanctioned entity can face 10 years’ imprisonment.

Senator Sharma recently chaired an inquiry into Australia’s sanctions regime that issued bipartisan criticism of Australia’s application of sanctions.

The report said there was “very limited evidence” to suggest the Albanese government had “adequately identified” assets held in Australia by individuals associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – which has been listed as a terror organisation by the US – and the Russian government, which Australia applied sanctions on after its invasion of Ukraine.

A spokeswoman for Senator Wong said Senator Sharma’s ­letter was a “crass attempt at a headline”.

“Senator Sharma knows that governments don’t disclose the investigations of the Australian Sanctions Office,” she said.

“Mr Dutton and the Liberals did not place one new sanction on Iran or entities linked to Iran in nine wasted years in government. We take sanctions compliance seriously, which is why we have strengthened the sanctions framework and are investing $26.4m in enforcing sanctions.”

Senator Payman declined to comment.