Press TV's website, which belongs to the Iranian government, is seen with a notice which appeared on a number of Iran-affiliated websites saying they had been seized by the US government as part of law enforcement action, on June 22, 2021 [Screengrab]

Washington, June 23 (RHC)-- The U.S. Justice Department and Commerce Department have seized nearly three dozen websites, many of them linked to so-called "Iranian disinformation activities," U.S. government sources told Reuters and The Associated Press news agencies on Tuesday.

The sites include Iran state media’s English-language outlet Press TV, Yemeni Houthi-run Al Masirah satellite news channel and Iranian state TV’s Arabic-language channel, Al-Alam.

Visiting the sites produced a U.S. government alert on Tuesday.  The notice says the websites were seized “as part of law enforcement action” by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
      
The U.S. government also took over the domain name of the news website Palestine Today, which reflects the viewpoints of Gaza-based groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, redirecting the site to the same notice.

Last October, the Department of Justice announced it had taken down nearly 100 websites linked to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.  The U.S. said the sites, operating under the guise of genuine news outlets, were waging a “global disinformation campaign” to influence U.S. policy and push Iranian propaganda around the world.

Press TV, launched in June 2007, is perhaps the most well known of the seized sites.  It is the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s (IRIB) English-language service.