In an unprecedented move, the United Nations has formally raised “grave concerns” with Iranian officials over treatment of BBC News staff operating in the region.

The BBC filed a complaint with the UN earlier this year regarding BBC News Persian staffers, which spotlighted online violence against journalists, gendered attacks faced by women and increased financial pressure from an ongoing asset freeze that operates as a “blunt financial sanction.”

The UN’s Iran communication, which was delivered in May but has just been published, said it had “raised grave concerns over the continuation of reported harassment and intimidation of the BBC News Persian staff and their family members, which appears to be aimed at preventing them from continuing their journalistic activities with BBC News Persian.”