US Justice Department blocks over 30 Iranian websites

The US Department of Justice has confirmed the blocking of 33 Iranian websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU), as well as three websites controlled by the Kataib Hezbollah group, according to the department's website.

"According to a court order, the United States has blocked 33 Iranian Islamic Radio and Television (IRTVU) websites and three websites operated by Kataib Hezbollah in violation of US sanctions," the report said.

Last October, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) determined that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-controlled IRTVU could not receive U.S. domain services, according to the ministry . They believe that the Iranian media are conducting a disinformation campaign and "malicious influence" operations in the country.

Kataib Hezbollah was designated a terrorist organization in the US in 2009 for its violence against Iraqi security forces and their allies, and did not have an OFAC license to use the domains.

At the end of May, the social network Facebook published a report according to which most of the accounts that the social network deletes due to suspicions about their authenticity were registered in Russia and Iran. So, according to the report, since 2017, Facebook has removed 50 groups of accounts from Russia and Iran for actions that are contrary to company policy.

The first US sanctions against Iran were imposed in the 1970s. Since then, Washington has been building up sanctions pressure on various sectors of the country's economy. After the conclusion of the nuclear deal in 2015, Washington lifted some of the restrictions. However, the Donald Trump administration later restored them in stages, believing that Iran had not abandoned its plans to develop nuclear weapons. In 2018, the US resumed the restrictions in full, and Iranian oil exports also fell under them .

In February of this year, the new administration withdrew Trump's petition to renew UN sanctions against Iran. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has also said earlier that President Joe Biden's administration is ready to start talks with Iran to get both countries back on track with the nuclear deal.