The BBC is to launch a television news channel in Iran, funded by the British government to the tune of £15m a year.
The chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced the channel today, saying it would be run by the BBC World Service and would be available to anyone with satellite or cable TV in the region.
Broadcasting in Farsi, the local language, but operating from London, the service is expected to begin broadcasting in early 2008.
Mr Brown, in a major speech on terrorism, praised the World Service as "a trusted source of news and information for millions across the world".
He said: "The BBC's proposed Farsi TV channel is an editorially independent specialist TV service for the people of Iran. And I am pleased to announce that we are making available the resources for this today."
The BBC World Service director, Nigel Chapman, said he was "delighted" the service had been given the go-ahead.
"The BBC's Persian radio and online services are well respected by Iranians, especially by opinion-formers. In Iran we are regarded as the most trusted and objective of all international broadcasters," he said.
"But television is increasingly dominating the way that millions of Iranian people receive their news. Like all BBC services, the new television service will be editorially independent of the UK government."
Under the terms of an agreement with the government, the BBC's proposals were first approved by the Foreign Office.
Earlier this year, the Iranian government blocked access to the BBC's Farsi-language website. At the time press freedom watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres said the move meant Iranians were being deprived of an independent and popular source of news.
RSF said the Farsi-language site had become one of the most important for Farsi speakers since its creation in 2001 and was also the BBC foreign-language site that received the most visitors.
Nearly 30 million connections were registered in December 2005, half of them from within Iran.
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