The United States government seized control of about three dozen Iranian-operated websites in an effort to crack down on disinformation as tensions between the two nations heighten while they negotiate a process to discuss Iran’s nuclear arms program.

According to Politico, the US government somehow took over control of the websites, which had been run by the Iranian state-owned media company IRNA.  When browsers were pointed to the sites of Iran state television’s English-language arm Press TV, Yemeni Houthi-run Al-Masirah satellite news channel and Iranian state TV’s Arabic-language channel, Al-Alam, viewers saw a federal notice stating the sites were seized as part of a “federal law enforcement action.”

It is unclear under what legal basis or investigatory authority the websites were seized, although the notice said it was done by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Press TV broadcasts around the world and internally in Iran, casting world events through the eye of the leaders in the Islamic Republic.  The others produce content for regional consumption, as well as for ex-pat Iranians and supporters around the world.

The Biden Administration continues the process of negotiating conditions to reopen talks with Iran to get the country to pull back on its nuclear development programs.  A multinational agreement, signed in 2015, was violated by the Trump Administration and afterward ignored by Iran.