Lord Ahmed. Photo: Facebook.

Disgraced British politician Lord Nazir Ahmed blamed the “Zionist lobby” for a U.S. decision to extend sanctions against Iran to international satellite television companies, which will drop all Iranian programming, regime television channel Press TV reported, quoting Ahmed.

“Freedom of speech, and freedom of expression and freedom of media should be universal and it’s very unfortunate that the Zionist lobby does not like Press TV and many of the other outlets of Iran and that’s why, the pressure is so much that they need to be switched off,” Lord Ahmed said.

The outburst comes two months after Lord Ahmed was forced to resign from Britain’s Labour Party ahead of a disciplinary hearing into claims he made comments about a Jewish conspiracy that led to his incarceration.

He had been suspended by his political party after The Times reported he blamed his 2009 prison sentence – for sending text messages shortly before his car was involved in a fatal crash – on pressure placed on the courts by Jews “who own newspapers and TV channels.”

Press TV said the removal of Iranian satellite channels has been tied to renewed American sanctions against the Iranian government, passed by U.S. President Obama in 2012.

According to Press TV, Iranian officials are preparing to take the case to the United Nations.

Press TV said it and other Iranian satellite channels had been taken off the air despite national distribution contracts in Britain, France, Germany and Spain.