Situation Report: The US blocks Iran-linked news websites

The U.S. Justice Department blocked a number of Iran-affiliated websites on June 22, many of them linked to disinformation efforts by Tehran and its proxies. The sites were removed with notices that read “seized” as part of law enforcement actions. Among the sites taken down include Iran’s most prominent English-language television, a news agency with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and various proxy-backed sources.

In a statement issued on June 22, the U.S. Justice Department said “Today, pursuant to court orders, the United States seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), in violation of U.S. sanctions.” Kata’ib Hizballah is a dominant Iranian-backed militia in Iraq which has been accused of carrying out dozens of rocket attacks targeting U.S. military and diplomatic assets across the country. The group has been designated by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

Websites run by the Iranian-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen were also among those taken down by the Justice Department. The Houthi rebels have been frequently condemned by the international community for their attacks targeting civilians and infrastructure in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Houthi rebels confirmed that a domain of its Al-Masirah TV news channel had been seized. In response to the removal, the Al-Masirah network issued a statement accusing the U.S. of blocking their domain without “any justification or even prior notice.”

The decision to seize websites associated with Iranian misinformation is not unprecedented. Last October, U.S. prosecutors took down 92 website domains linked to the IRGC. The U.S. accused the IRGC of using these domains as part of a “global disinformation campaign” to export pro-Iranian sentiment.

The website removals on June 22 come three days after  Ebrahim Raisi was elected President of Iran, an anti-Western and hardline cleric who was placed under U.S. sanctions over human rights violations in 2019. Additionally, two days prior to the site removals marked the sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. regarding the reinstatement of a nuclear agreement.