A London ‘media company’ feared to be spreading pro-Iran misinformation had a Hezbollah propagandist sitting on its board of directors, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Nasser Akhdar was listed on Companies House as a director of the Arabic Islamic Broadcasting Union Ltd (AIBU) before the records were updated in a way that obscured his involvement.
Akhdar is described as a senior spokesman for Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia that is proscribed as a terror group in the UK.
He has also been identified by think-tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as a media strategist for Yemen’s Houthis, another Iranian proxy which is supporting Tehran in its war with the US and Israel.
Akhdar is also Under-Secretary General of the Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU), which was sanctioned by the US in 2020 for being ‘owned or controlled’ by Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to Roger Macmillan, former director of security at Iran International and Iranian terrorism specialist, ‘Akhdar appears to be a lynchpin within Iran’s communications network, heavily involved in pushing its propaganda in the UK’.
The precise role of the AIBU remains unclear, but experts believe it could be a shell company used to conduct Iranian influence operations in the UK.
Nasser Akhdar was listed in Companies House documents as a director of the Arabic Islamic Broadcasting Union Ltd (AIBU)
Hezbollah fighters attend the funeral of three Hezbollah commanders who died in an Israeli strike on a southern suburb of Beirut in 2024
MPs have repeatedly warned of Iran’s use of British-based TV and media outlets to spread misinformation aimed at buttressing the regime in Tehran and undermining Western interests.
A second man, Yaser Alsayegh, was listed as a director of AIBU from its founding in 2017, before Akhdar was appointed in February 2018.
Alsayegh had his Bahraini citizenship stripped in 2015 over security concerns and is now a British citizen.
He was previously a director of LuaLuaTV, a controversial Bahraini opposition channel accused of operating as a propaganda arm of the IRGC.
LuaLua TV has previously shared content glorifying Hezbollah and Hamas commanders including Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas in Gaza who planned the October 7 massacre.
Lord Walney, the Government’s former extremism tsar, called in January for the network to be banned from Britain. Ofcom has said the network operates solely as an online streaming service in the UK so does not fall under its Broadcasting Code.
Alsayegh is also director of an unregistered charity called the Al-Mueen Foundation.
In 2024, an account operating under his name on Telegram described how a ‘generous donation’ to the foundation had been used to provide money ‘to the orphans of the martyrs during the Battle of the Al-Aqsa Storm’.
The Battle of the Al-Aqsa Storm is Hamas’ term for the October 7 terrorist attacks, which killed 1,195 people.
However, Alsayegh today insisted that the Telegram account had been hacked and ‘operated by a third party’. He said the messages contained ‘obvious indicators of impersonation, including the misnaming and misspelling of the organisation’.
Akhdar was appointed director of AIBU on February 22, 2018, and is listed as a director in the company’s accounts for each year thereafter until 2024.
But on April 10, 2026, the company terminated his appointment on a backdated basis – claiming that he had left his role the same day he was appointed, in February 2018.
Alsayegh is shown as having signed off on each of these accounts on behalf of the company’s other directors. Today he described the update as an ‘administrative or typographical error’.
Jonathan W. Hackett, a retired US marine special operations specialist and author of Iran’s Shadow Weapons, suspects the AIBU could be another example of a shell company that had been created to advance Iran’s ambitions in Western countries.
Yaser Alsayegh was listed as a director of AIBU from its founding in 2017. Alsayegh had his Bahraini citizenship stripped in 2015 over security concerns and is now a British citizen
‘This is common in the US, Canada, UK and many other countries – what the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC do is create shell companies in order to create distance between Iran and the company,’ he told the Mail.
‘Their key goals tend to be influence and finance – they’ll use that shell company as a way to recruit people who conduct attacks. They build long-term involvement in the communities – especially Shia communities.
‘They develop influence networks – so that later on they will be able to use those networks to do things. Often the people they’ve recruited don’t realise who they’re working for.’
It follows a report last month that a network of UK-based charities were being used as ‘soft power’ hubs for Iran.
The landmark study by Lord Walney identified more than 30 organisations that he alleges have become part of the network with links to Tehran.
They included religious institutions, cultural institutions, community centres and charities operating around the UK.
The former Labour MP claimed fear over being embroiled in racism rows had prevented authorities from clamping down on the groups but insisted they must do so.
It comes as counter-terrorism police continue to investigate whether Iran is paying British ‘thugs for hire’ to commit arson after the latest attack on a synagogue.
The revelation came from senior officers standing on the north London street where a firebomber struck at midnight on Saturday – the latest of several anti-Jewish incidents in the capital over the past week.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the assault on the Kenton United Synagogue ‘a cowardly arson attack’, adding that ‘a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum’.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We take the threat posed by Iran incredibly seriously, and our first priority is protecting British interests and lives.
‘We have introduced a comprehensive set of additional measures aimed at countering threats posed by the Iranian regime, including sanctioning the IRGC in its entirety, as well as more than 550 Iranian individuals and entities.’
