DOJ seizes US-based website domains linked to Iranian government

The Justice Department has seized more than 30 websites with direct links to Iran’s government and state media in violation of US sanctions and connected to “malign influence operations” — as a new hardline leader takes the helm in the Islamic Republic.

News of the agency’s seizures came Tuesday in a press release, which said that the department had taken control of 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, a group controlled by Tehran, as well as three sites run by Kata’ib Hezbollah, another name for the Iranian-backed militia “in violation of U.S. sanctions.” The sites, some of which quickly re-launched under new domains after being taken down, had not acquired the necessary licenses to operate in the United States.