Journalists in Australia are among dozens of reporters who fear for their lives and those of family members after receiving death threats from the Iranian regime.
Legal experts have warned if governments don't work together to hold Iran to account, a "journalist could die on the streets of Melbourne, simply for doing their job".
Iran International, a news outlet headquartered in London that broadcasts into Iran and across the world, said its journalists had experienced an "alarming escalation" in threats over the past few weeks, since the 12-day Iran-Israel war.
The organisation's Australia correspondent based in Melbourne, Alireza Mohebbi, told the ABC his family in Iran had been targeted.
"It's very stressful, the Islamic Republic's regime has called my family and threatened if they don't get me to stop working at Iran International TV, there will be consequences," he said.
"I'm worried about my family in Iran. The regime is very aggressive about the work we are doing at Iran International."
Iran International said 45 of its journalists in eight countries and more than 300 relatives had received threats, with family members hauled in for questioning and some detained in Iran.
Some journalists have reportedly been followed, had trackers put on their cars and received sexual harassment and abuse online.
Others have been threatened that they and their relatives will be killed if they continue their work.
"Over the past few weeks, the level of threats against our journalists have increased dramatically, it's obvious to us that this is because of our coverage about what is happening in Iran," Iran International's executive news editor Aliasghar Ramezanpoor said.
"The government is concerned about our coverage because we go beyond the censorship processes they have."
Iran strictly controls media in the country and Iran International, which launched in 2017, is an independent outlet that often criticises the regime's leadership and circumvents censorship by broadcasting from outside the country.
Legal counsel for Iran International, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, said the regime had accused journalists of being spies for Israel, without any justification.
"Iran has made very clear that it wishes to assassinate an Iran international journalist, to send a message," she said.
"I'm afraid that unless robust action is taken by multiple states acting together around the world to hold Iran to account for what it's doing, we are going to see a journalist die on the streets of London or the streets in Washington or the streets of Melbourne simply for doing their job."
The ABC has contacted the Iranian government for comment.
Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati was repeatedly stabbed outside his London home on Good Friday last year, after receiving repeated threats for months.
Two men have been charged over the attack and Zeraati has moved abroad for his safety.
"What happened in that attack was very worrying," Ms Gallagher said.
"These were individuals flown in specifically to conduct the attack, which happened on Good Friday, when law enforcement responses were perhaps slower than usual and we see that increasingly with Iran, it targets times when parliaments are away."
Eleven United Nations experts have condemned Iran's intensifying repression of Iran International journalists across the world, as well as the growing intimidation of their family members living in Iran.
"We are deeply concerned by credible threats to the lives and safety of journalists … this campaign is an attempt to silence and censor critical reporting and courageous public interest journalism by a fragile government that appears afraid of legitimate criticism," the experts said in a statement released on August 21.
"We urge Iran to immediately stop threatening and intimidating journalists and their families, and obstructing healthy public debate in democratic societies."
In July, Iran's parliament introduced a bill that expands the criminal offence of espionage, to include contact with foreign and diaspora media outlets.
It means Iran International reporters are technically classified as terrorists in Iran, so if they call their family in Tehran, their family members could be arrested for speaking with an international fugitive.
Mr Mohebbi says he hasn't spoken to his family in months for fear of reprisals.
He is worried the threats could increase further after Australia expelled Iran's ambassador over accusations the government directed antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
"This is a big concern of the Iranian people and Iranian community in Australia, that after expelling the ambassador, the regime wants to put more pressure on us," he said.
"Especially because we had extensive coverage about the issue on Iran International."
Ms Gallagher said there were fears that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could next target small newsrooms, including in Melbourne.
"As security has ramped up at the two main headquarters in the US and UK, we're increasingly seeing attacks being carried out in smaller bureaus," she said.
"Last year there was a foiled plot to assassinate an Iran International journalist in Sweden, and we are worried about other locations, including Melbourne."
She said the journalists who knew they had be blacklisted when they left Iran to report on the country, are showing a huge amount of courage to continue working.
"Increasingly what I'm finding is that being a journalist reporting on Iran, wherever in the world you may be, is an act of bravery," she said.
"These people are heroes, standing up to do their job and being targeted by a bully state with very frightening and horrendous tactics. It's remarkable so many of my clients are continuing to do their job in the face of this abuse."
Mohebbi, who moved to Australia from Iran in 2010 to pursue journalism, has vowed to continue his passion.
"I'm committed to what I am doing. Threats cannot stop me," he said.
