US seized dozens of Iran-linked news websites in alligations of Fake News and Disinformation

 U.S. authorities have seized a number of government-linked media outlets in Iran, accusing them of spreading "false information" on Tuesday, a U.S. official said, in what appeared to be a major crackdown on Iranian media in the wake of tensions between the two countries.

A U.S. government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case had not yet been officially announced, said the United States had seized about a dozen websites, most of which linked to Iranian information campaigns.
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The notices appeared Tuesday on several Iranian-related media websites claiming to have been taken over by the US government as part of the law.
A victory in the presidential election raises tensions as negotiations on Iran's nuclear deal resume.

Iranian media outlets say the US government has seized a number of Iranian websites and media outlets affiliated with Iran, such as the Houthi Houthi group. Some sites later began to display as normal.

The website Masirah TV in Arabic, owned by the Houthis, reads: “The almasirah.net domain has been taken over by the United States government in accordance with a letter of intent ... as part of legal action from the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Export Office and the Federal Office Bureau of Investigation. ”The site immediately launched a new, active website.

Iran's Alalam TV in Iran states on its Telegram channel: "US authorities have closed the Al-Alam TV website."

Announcements also appeared on the websites of Iran’s English-Press Press TV and Lualua TV, an independent Bahraini Arabic language station broadcasting from Britain.

"In what appears to be a coherent action, the same message comes from Iranian television networking websites and regions that claim that web sites are hosted by the United States government," Press TV tweeted.
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The announcement came just days after Ebrahim Raisi, a strong and critical western leader, was elected Iran's new president and after Iran's envoys and six world powers including Washington postponed negotiations to renew the 2015 nuclear deal and returned to the capital for negotiations.

This is not the first time the US has held hostage sites that it accuses of spreading propaganda.

In October last year, U.S. prosecutors seized a network of web sites that they said were used in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) campaign to spread non-political information around the world.

The U.S. Department of Justice at the time owned 92 sites used by the IRGC to create independent media outlets targeting viewers in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The Iranian news agency YJC said on Tuesday that the US move "shows that free speech is a lie".