International Desk: According to the US justice Department, 33 Iranian government-controlled media websites as well as 3 of the Iraqi group Kataeb Hezbollah, have been seized by them this Wednesday. They were said to be hosted on US-owned domains in violation of sanctions.

The leading Iranian media sites like Press TV and Al-Alam, as well as the Al-Masirah TV channel of Yemen's Huthis, upon visiting, show singe-page statements saying the site ‘has been seized by the United States Government’ along with the seals of the federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Commerce Department.

The Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC), kept the 33 media websites under its hold.

As a result, the IRTVU and IRGC have been placed on the US sanctions blacklist. This makes it illegal for Americans, US companies, and foreign or non-American companies with US subsidiaries to have business with them or their subsidiaries.

Iraqi group, Kataeb Hezbollah, on the other hand is a hard-line military faction with close ties to Tehran that has been formally labeled as a terror group.

Additionally, Palestinian-directed broadcasters Palestine-Al-Youm, along with an Arabic cultural and religious channel were among the ones that have been seized. This information was relayed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

According to AFP, the United States also seized Bahrain’s LuaLua TV. With its office in London and Beirut, the channel was run by opposition groups.

"The government of the United States of America is banning the Al-Masirah website without any justification or even prior notice," said the Huthis, with the IRIB accusing the US of repressing freedom of expression by blocking ‘pro-resistance media outlets exposing the crimes of US allies in the region.’, by teaming up with Israel and Saudi Arabia.

LuaLua and Al-Masirah has continued broadcasting new programs, with Al-Masirah establishing a new website replacing the dot-net domain with dot-com.

The websites were seized days after Iranian coservative and principlist Ebrahim Raisi, was elected as the country's new president and after envoys for Iran and six world powers including Washington adjourned talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord and returned to capitals for consultations.

Sunnews/NT