FDD researchers have uncovered the Iranian role in creating a network of at least 19 websites that present themselves as independent sources of opinion and analysis for audiences across the globe. Other researchers previously tied several of these sites to Iran, but FDD is the first to identify most of them while documenting the technical indicators that demonstrate their connectedness.
Last month, Microsoft and OpenAI exposed five websites as part of an Iranian influence operation, with The New York Times providing additional coverage this week. FDD’s findings demonstrate that these five are part of a global effort targeting audiences across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and South America.
Two of the websites FDD has exposed are targeting U.S. audiences with election-related content. Afro Majority targets African Americans with content that is often hostile to former President Donald Trump, favorable toward Vice President Kamala Harris, and supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. Another Iranian website, Not Our War, appears to target U.S. veterans and denigrates both Trump and Biden in attempts to delegitimize American democracy more broadly. A typical article carried the headline “The Bitter Choice: Biden vs. Trump and the Illusion of Democracy in the US.”
These websites share pro-Iran content. For example, after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised anti-Israel campus protests, Afro Majority described his statement as “a profound act of empathy, an embrace of the shared struggle for justice animating the current wave of mobilizations from the youth vanguard.” Not Our War published an article alleging that the United States is secretly researching a weather-controlling weapon meant to “curb Iran’s Geopolitical Supremacy.”
Consistent with Iranian interests, other websites in the network criticize Israel, the United States, and Saudi Arabia while praising Iranian terrorist proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. One website, Herald Alba, even promotes Scottish independence, a relatively niche topic that Iran has promoted in previous influence operations. Only one website in the Iranian network does not post political content: People of Persia glorifies Persian history and discusses the various ethnic groups of Iran.
Key technical indicators show the 19 sites are part of a single network. The indicators include shared web hosting servers, common patterns in the email addresses used to create the websites, and broken links to non-existent social media pages. The following are the 19 domains FDD identified in this Iranian network, which FDD will profile in greater depth in a future report:
Afromajority[.]com
Al-sarira[.]com
Almorasiloun[.]com
Click-news[.]net
Critiquepolitique[.]com
Evenpolitics[.]com
Francepresse24[.]com
Heraldalba[.]com
Israelboycottvoice[.]com
Ksanews24[.]com
Lalinearoja[.]net
Muscat[.]press
Niothinker[.]com
Notourwar[.]com
Peopleofpersia[.]com
Savannahtime[.]com
Teorator[.]com
Thebritishtribune[.]com
Westlandsun[.]com
Since these websites are hosted on servers located outside the United States, Washington should work with international partners to take down or seize the websites and infrastructure involved in this operation. The U.S. government should also further investigate who in Iran is responsible for this activity and then impose sanctions and issue indictments as appropriate, which the U.S. government has done in the past to combat foreign malign cyber-enabled influence operations.