Press TV is the main state-funded English-language television station in Iran. The appearance of the channel, which was founded in 2007, is no coincidence reminiscent of CNN or BBC World, it is the Iranian counter-model. Only that it would be a little too much of an honor to speak of a news channel: The program may seem very professional – but the editorial team is not independent of the standards of Western media.
In the United States, Press TV, part of the state television IRIB, is an important channel of a propaganda network for the Islamic Republic. Because IRIB is subordinate to the Iranian establishment with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the head. As a result, the US authorities have now confiscated the TV station’s primary website, presstv.com, as well as that of 35 other broadcasters associated with the regime in Tehran.
The US authorities acted a few days after the election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as the new president, regardless of which indirect negotiations on a return to the nuclear deal between Iran and the US are to continue. If you try to call up the pages on the Internet, only a note from the Federal Police FBI and the Ministry of Commerce appears.
The US Department of Justice announced, it had secured 33 domains that are to be assigned to the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union. This was sanctioned by the US in 2020 because of its connections with the Revolutionary Guards, the elite unit of the Iranian military. The US company that owns the domains has not applied for the necessary license from the Department of Commerce, which is necessary for continued operation.
Most of the pages were soon available again at alternative addresses
Three websites were also shut down by Kata’ib Hezbollah, a Shiite militia in Iraq controlled by the Revolutionary Guards and blamed by Washington for rocket and mortar attacks on US bases and troops in Iraq.
The pages of the Arabic-language press TV counterpart al-Alam, al-Masirah, a station from Yemen operated by Ansarullah, as the Houthi militias supported by Iran call themselves, are also affected. Most of the pages could still be reached on the Internet – after a few hours at the latest via alternative addresses.
The US Department of Justice announcement said the broadcasters were running anti-US disinformation campaigns and attempting to exert illicit influence – a reference to attempts to manipulate the US presidential election.
The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Said Khatibzadeh, condemned the actions of the US authorities in Tehran. It is an example of the systematic attempt by the US to interfere with freedom of expression on a global level and to silence independent voices in the media. It is shameful for Washington to continue to use such double standards.