The United States of America had seized multiple websites used by the Iranian news agencies against the sanctions.
US Justice Department Releases Statement Against 33 Websites
As per the latest reports, the US Justice Department released a statement regarding the websites. They said that following the court orders, the United States of America seized 33 websites that were used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU). Along with three other websites that were being operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), in violation of US sanctions.
The statement further said that both IRTVU and KH which are Shia militia groups operate from Iraq. They both had been designated by the US government and prohibited from running websites and domain services in the US without a license.
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The websites of the Iranian State owned-news channel Press TV and Al-Alam were among many of those which were blocked. However, both the websites were running later by using Iranian domains.
Iran’s President-Elect Urges US to Lift “Unjust Sanctions”
This move came after earlier this year, Iran’s President elect Ebrahim Raisi urged the United States to lift all the “unjust sanctions” against Iran. He further ruled out a meeting with President Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, Iran urged the US to lift the sanctions “unconditionally and effectively” after the US stated its willingness to attend the meeting of P5+1 and Iran. Spokesman from the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that because the US withdrew itself from the JCPOA, there won’t be P5+1.
The P5+1 countries (China, France, Russia, Britain and the US, plus Germany) negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program in 2015. However, this was before the US under the former President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018.
Following this, Iran also withdrew its parts from the JCPOA in 2019.
