Tech wars in Iran

 THE AP REPORTING: American authorities seized a range of Iran’s state-linked news website domains they accused of spreading disinformation, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday, a move that appeared to be a far-reaching crackdown on Iranian media amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

The Justice Department said 33 of the seized websites were used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, which was singled out by the U.S. government last October for what officials described as efforts to spread disinformation and sow discord among American voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The U.S. says three other seized websites were operated by the Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group, Kata’ib Hizballah, which more than a decade ago was designated a foreign terrorist organization. The group is separate from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group whose news websites remained operational.

The website domains are owned by U.S. companies, but despite the sanctions, neither the IRTVU nor KH obtained the required licenses from the U.S. government before using the domain names, according to the Justice Department.

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The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it seized 36 Iranian-linked websites, many of them associated with either disinformation activities or violent organizations, taking them offline for violating U.S. sanctions.

Several of the sites were back online within hours with new domain addresses.

“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,” the department said in a statement.

AND FINALLY AN UPDATE ON THAT NUCLEAR ISSUE IN IRAN, from their state TV government version: 

Iranian authorities have thwarted what they called a “sabotage attack” targeting a civilian nuclear facility near the country’s capital, Iranian media reported Wednesday, as details about the incident remained scarce.

Nournews, a website believed to be close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, first reported the attack. The website said the move was foiled “before causing any casualties or damage” to the sprawling center located in Karaj city, just some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tehran. It said authorities were investigating the cause of the sabotage, without saying how it was carried out.