US slams Iran for blocking BBC's Persian service

US today slammed Iran for jamming the Persian service of BBC following coverage of the mass protests against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and said the act underscores "hypocrisy" of the nation's leadership.

"The recent arrests and effort to block international media outlets underscore the hypocrisy of the Iranian leadership... For all of its empty talk about Egypt, the government of Iran should allow the Iranian people the same universal right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate in Tehran that the people are exercising in Cairo," Tommy Vietor, US National Security Council Spokesman, said.

The White House official said "Governments must respect the rights of their people and be responsive to their aspirations." The US comments came after reports that BBC's Persian Service has been jammed by Iran because it is covering Egyptian uprising.

Meanwhile, Peter Horrocks, head of BBC Global News, called for an end to the jamming, saying: "It is wrong that our significant Iranian audience is being denied impartial news and information... The BBC will not stop covering Egypt and it will continue to broadcast to the Iranian people."

It appears the trigger point was a joint broadcast on Wednesday by the corporation's Persian and Arabic services in which Iranian and Egyptian callers exchanged views, BBC said.

"Many Iranian viewers said during the interactive programme that they were watching events unfold in Cairo extremely closely," the channel said in a statement.

BBC Persian TV launched in 2009 and has suffered similar attempts to interfere with its signal intermittently ever since. But it continues to stream live online, BBC said.