The US has taken down the website of Fars News, as part of the Trump administration’s sanctions against Iran, the official news outlet of the Iranian regime announced on Friday night. Fars tweeted that access to its farsnews.com domain had been blocked on order of the US Treasury.
Internet users trying to access farsnews.com found a blank screen, with the message: “Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site.”
Fars said it had received an email from its server company, which “explicitly said that the blockage is due to an order by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and its inclusion in the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN).”
“From an hour ago (sic.), audience access to the Fars News Agency site has encountered a problem due to being placed on America’s sanctions list, and the technical part of this News Agency is working to create access for the audience on the farsnews.ir domain,” the news outlet tweeted.
The Fars content in Persian is now available through its farsnews.ir domain.
In December 2019, Google blocked access to Press TV and Hispan TV’s official YouTube accounts.
According to Tehran Times, since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Washington has ramped up anti-Iran measures. Trump adopted a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran after having withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018. The US government has since targeted Iranian officials and organizations with “vicious sanctions,” Tehran Times noted.
Back in April 2019, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was blacklisted by the US as a “foreign terrorist organization”. In retaliation, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council named the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) a terrorist organization.
In June 2019, Trump announced new sanctions against Iran, targeting the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top commanders of the IRGC.
In July 2019, the US Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.