and armed groups, with reporters being stopped and questioned or even detained, a survey of AFP bureau chiefs from the region showed. Some of the tightest restrictions are in Iran and Israel, although Gulf monarchies, targets of unprecedented drone and missile attacks from Iran, have also imposed tighter controls. Governments seem particularly concerned about images that disclose the location of missile and drone strikes, or that show projectiles being intercepted. Obtaining independent information outside of official channels is particularly difficult in Iran, where media access to areas outside the capital Tehran is limited or non-existent. AFP, one of the few international news outlets with a Tehran bureau, has been unable to visit the scene of the strike on a school in the southern town of Minab, where Iranian authorities say more than 150 people, many of them children, were killed. With the Iranian internet barely functioning and security extremely tight, there is relatively little independent user generated content being posted from within Iran. This contrasts with the start of the war in Ukraine when journalists were allowed to travel freely and citizens posted images of Russian strikes. (Bssnews)