US blocks websites linked to Iranian disinformation — source

A screen grab from alalamtv.net shows a notice saying the website has been seized by the United States government as part of law enforcement action, as seen June 22, 2021. REUTERS

DUBAI — The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday blocked some three dozen websites, many of them associated with Iranian disinformation activities, a U.S. government source said, adding an official announcement was expected.

The source in Washington spoke after notices appeared earlier on Tuesday on a number of Iran-affiliated websites saying they had been seized by the United States government as part of law enforcement action.

Iranian news agencies said that the U.S. government had seized several Iranian media websites and sites belonging to groups affiliated with Iran such as Yemen’s Houthi movement.

Some sites later started to display as normal.

The website of the Arabic-language Masirah TV, which is run by the Houthis, read:

“The domain almasirah.net has been seized by the United States Government in accordance with a seizure warrant … as part of a law enforcement action by the Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

The site quickly opened up a new, working website at www.almasirah.com.

Iran’s Arabic language Alalam TV said on its Telegram channel: “U.S. authorities shut down Al-Alam TV’s website.”

A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson had no immediate comment. Two U.S. government sources indicated that the Justice Department was preparing an announcement on this issue.

The notices appeared days after a prominent hardliner and fierce critic of the West, Ebrahim Raisi, was elected as Iran’s new president and after envoys for Iran and six world powers including Washington adjourned talks on reviving their tattered 2015 nuclear accord and returned to capitals for consultations.

Notices also appeared on websites of Iran’s English-language Press TV and Lualua TV, an Arabic-language Bahraini independent channel which broadcasts from Britain.

“In what seems to be a coordinated action, a similar message appears on the websites of Iranian and regional television networks that claims the domains of the websites have been ‘seized by the United States Government’,” Press TV said on Twitter.

Last October, U.S. prosecutors seized a network of web domains which they said were used in a campaign by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to spread political disinformation around the world.

The U.S. Justice Department said then that it had taken control of 92 domains used by the IRGC to pose as independent media outlets targeting audiences in the United States, Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The semi-official Iranian news agency YJC agency said on Tuesday the U.S. move “demonstrates that calls for freedom of speech are lies”.