The Iranian state mouthpiece Press TV has backed controversial Bristol academic David Miller after he called for the “end of Zionism”. 

On its website, the news channel warned of a “concerted campaign against Professor Miller” against a backdrop of “intense activity by the Zionist lobby across the length and breadth of the British political landscape”.

It featured a picture of Prof Miller, under a caption which claimed he was “fighting back against the Zionist lobby in the UK”.

Prof Miller caused outrage last week after he launched an inflammatory tirade during an online seminar about free speech in which he claimed there was not “a serious problem” with antisemitism in Britain.

He hit out at Jewish student groups for lodging complaints about his views and warned Britain was facing an “all out onslaught by the Israeli government”.

“It’s a question of how we defeat the ideology of Zionism in practice.  How do we make sure Zionism is ended essentially?” he said.

“The enemy we face here is Zionism and the imperial policies of the Israeli state.”

He later doubled down on his comments, telling the JC that Jewish students were being used as “political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime”.

Press TV claimed the backlash provoked by Prof Miller’s views was actually the “intense pressure” of a “Zionist lobby in the UK which appears to be intent on destroying his career”.

The network added: “The concerted campaign against Professor David Miller is widely seen as the latest sign of the Zionist lobby’s relentless political, ideological and cultural offensive in Britain.”

And it highlighted an article Prof Miller wrote in The Electronic Intifada over the weekend, in which he made fresh claims that he was the victim of a smear campaign.

Bristol University said it did “not endorse the comments made by Professor David Miller about our Jewish students” and admitted it received a “significant” number of calls for him to be dismissed.