Iran says state-linked sites seized by US, reasons unclear

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Tuesday that several state-linked news websites have been seized by the U.S. government under unclear circumstances. There was no immediate acknowledgement of the takedowns from American authorities.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency identified a series of websites taken offline, saying they were seized by the Department of Justice.

The Iranian state-linked websites that abruptly went offline with U.S. seizure notices include Iranian state television’s English-language arm Press TV, as well as the Yemeni Houthi rebels’ Al-Masirah satellite news channel.

Marzieh Hashemi, a prominent anchor for Press TV, told The Associated Press that the channel was aware of the seizure but had no further information.

“We are just trying to figure out what this means,” she said.

The Associated Press