US seizure by Iran-linked websites ‘foresight’, researchers say | Online stories

Tehran, Iran – As they abandoned the nuclear deal in Iran in 2015, another move by the United States also promises to affect life in Iran, this time according to internet freedom, researchers say.

Not surprisingly Wednesday, the US Department of Justice They took 36 websites and to connect with Iran for its use of the “smuggling campaign”.

The move sparked suspicion of fraud due to denials claiming “this website has been hijacked” along with Arabic words instead of Farsi, and State Secretary Ned Price declined to comment, indicating that U.S. officials working in Iran may not be around.

The takeover comes as Iran and international powers – including the US – are expected to start the seventh and possibly final phase in Vienna in reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that the US left 2018.

The sanctions imposed by the US are the worst in Iran, and have led to rising prices and unemployment in the midst of the deadly COVID-19 epidemic in the Middle East.

The Justice Department later said that the three occupied territories belonged to Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah, while the rest, including Yemen, Palestine, and Bahraini in English and Arabic, were held by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, which is said to be run by the Muslim Revolutionary Party. Guard Corps’ Quds Force expatriates.

The captured sites belonged to a so-called “resistance axis” in which Iran is helping the region to deal with US and Saudi rivals such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. has issued a list of names related to “terrorism”, and said American companies are not allowed to provide .com and .net domains without permission from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

This has been criticized by Iranian officials and banned by the media outlet, the largest of which is Press TV, a state-run Iranian-run television station in Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry has cited the seizure as an example of “efforts to undermine international freedom of expression and the ban on independent media”, adding that Iran will continue to pursue the issue through legitimate means.

‘National Information Network’

While the US may be able to empower itself to use the internet, its actions could have far greater consequences than they can control.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.

There is a prelude to that, after all.

Foreign governments have no right to report injuries within the United States, obviously. But U.S. citizens and their citizens have a legal right to receive information from abroad. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. https://t.co/GbAK5PxBdG

– Jameel Jaffer (@JameelJaffer) June 22, 2021

In January 2020, while the issue is still dominated by the results of US drone assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, and the IRGC firing shots at U.S. bases and firing a passenger plane, Fars News Agency’s .com firm closed.

Subsequently, Donald Trump officials also seized the daily IRAN newspaper page and other related sites.

This was followed a few months after the seizure of two of Kataeb Hezbollah’s two official websites, with the names of 92 names “used illegally by the Iranian IRGC to participate in an international campaign”.

The incident provided evidence of US aggression and an investigation into the use of Iranian authorities to lure people away from NIN, which has been in operation for more than 10 years.

Sadjad Bonabi, a development worker with the Ministry of Information and Communication, said in January 2020 that the challenges posed by NIN “have reduced the number of cases of cruelty”.

“These are the reasons why Iranian officials – whether from strong groups or from the ruling party of President Hassan Rouhani – are using it to highlight the importance of strengthening Iran’s position on the NIN project,” said Mahsa Alimardani, a researcher and human rights group native British ARTICLE19, told Al Jazeera.

But while the NIN may have positive results, such as reducing internet access, lowering costs and increasing efficiency, Iranians are concerned about how to use it to curb internet access.

The crisis was confirmed in November 2019, amid international protests over oil overnight, the government blocked access to the Internet for a week – far from several cities – and began cracking down on militants who claimed to have killed hundreds of people. . Only other online services are available via NIN at this time.

In addition, officials, including President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, spoke on the Internet connection method as well as “authorized VPNs” (common networks) that could provide online access to people based on their expertise.

Long-term results

In the meantime, the US cannot stand to benefit greatly at the moment of writing off Iran-linked foreign lists, especially since they will not be deported.

PressTV, for example, has changed to a .ir domain as soon as it acquired its .com address. The same thing happened with Fars when his website was hijacked last year.

On Wednesday after the seizure, Iran’s ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi promised that his ministry would provide “essential equipment” to the market.

The language used by US officials to announce the seizure suggests that Iran’s trading platform should also strive to attract the 2020 presidential election, which the 19th edition of Alimardani is not surprising.

“This in itself is a valid reason for approving these organizations, as these sites are considered ‘white supremacists’ and not ‘experimental’ initiators,” he said.

He also said that although the US could bring other problems to the market, including harming their experiments with Google search results, the move was “meaningless” because it reinforces their claim that the US is a monarchy and an oppressive power.

“America continues to diminish its efforts as ‘freedom of the internet’ with this,” he said.

“While it does not directly eliminate the use of Iranian citizens in this regard, the move is forcing Iran’s efforts to help promote and establish .ir territories on websites hosted by ordinary Iranians.”

Brian O’Toole, a forensic expert, told Al Jazeera that “terrorism” gives the U.S. Department of Justice a good reason to do so.

“However, even if the DOJ has a reason to ban Iranian websites, it is difficult to understand how this could affect the future or affect the site,” said former OFAC adviser who is now a senior official at the Atlantic Council.

“On the contrary, I regret that this has turned out to be a very serious matter and has led the United States to ridicule itself for refusing to ‘speak out’, even though it does not prevent terrorism. [or electoral interference]. ”