Iran revokes New York Times reporter's credentials

The New York Times hasn't been able to turn to its “man in Tehran" to cover flaring tensions between the U.S. and Iran since bureau chief Thomas Erdbrink was barred from reporting in the country four months ago, the paper said Monday.

Erdbrink’s last byline from Tehran was on Feb. 12; he hasn’t tweeted since Feb.

20.

The Times said in an article that “recent speculation and comments on social media” prompted its decision to go public. The paper said Iran’s Foreign Ministry has “offered no explanation” for why the credential was revoked but has assured the paper it would be restored.

Amir Etemadi, a Washington-based Iranian dissident, had

Twitter

earlier Friday why the Times hadn’t commented on Erdbrink losing his press credentials. Etemadi tweeted, without providing evidence, that Erdbrink’s Feb. 10 piece on the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution cost him his access.

Journalists expressed alarm Monday at the news. “Terrible,” the Wall Street Journal’s Farnaz Fassihi

Twitter

. “The fantastic & nuanced reporting of @ThomasErdbrink is much needed insight as the #Iran story heats up.”

A citizen of the Netherlands, Erdbrink is one of the few western journalists based in Tehran. He moved to the country in 2002 and, the following year, married Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian. (Tavakolian’s credential has also been revoked, according to the Times.

)

Erdbrink, who became Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post in 2008 and joined the Times in 2012, was featured in the “Frontline” documentary “Our Man in Tehran.”

Erdbrink has faced criticism from conservative outlets such as Commentary and the Washington Free Beacon, who accuse the reporter of pulling his punches on the Iranian regime. A Free Beacon piece on one of Erdbrink’s last dispatches suggested the Times was using “wordplay to absolve Iran’s leadership.”

Erdbrink has temporarily lost his press credentials in the past, the Times noted, though this latest punishment appears to be more severe. In “Our Man in Tehran," Erdbink appeared aware of the possibility of the government cracking down on his access.

“In this country, the government is watching you 24/7, and sometimes I’m unpleasantly reminded of this fact,” he said during a discussion of Jason Rezaian, who succeeded him as the Post’s bureau chief. Rezaian, who holds dual Iranian and American citizenship, spent 544 days in prison after he was accused of espionage.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine