Iran Condemns US Double Standards on Freedom of Expression

Iran today condemned the United States' double standards regarding freedom of expression by blocking media outlets in the Islamic Republic and other West Asian countries.

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On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh criticized the U.S. government's new coercive move to seize several Iranian and West Asian region alternative media outlets such as Press TV, Al-Alam, Al-Kawthar TV, and Yemen's Al-Masirah channel, among others.

Khatibzadeh considered Washington's defense of free expression hypocritical and said that the current U.S. government follows the same line as the previous one. Those measures confirm, he said, the White House's intention to silence voices that challenge its interests.

"Double U.S. standards are shameful. The current US administration has followed exactly the path of the previous administration, a decision that will result in nothing but a double defeat for Washington," he has asserted.

The spokesman denounced that the measure reveals the systematic attempts of the United States to undermine the right to freedom of expression at the international level and to silence independent voices in the media.

In this regard, he has emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran rejects this illegal and coercive action and will pursue the issue through legal channels.

The United States cut several portals of the networks belonging to the Radio and Television of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Resistance in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine without explaining.

The U.S. on Tuesday illegally seized control of the websites of the channels above belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio and Television (IRIB).

The U.S. move has also targeted several other Syrian, Iraqi, and Palestinian Resistance websites, such as the Palestinian news agency Al-Youm.

So far, the U.S. government has not issued any statement on the matter, so a complete list of the blocked media is not available. However, according to a U.S. official, on condition of anonymity, quoted by the U.S. portal Bloomberg, it is a massive blockade that includes almost 36 Iranian websites.

The measure affects the .com and .net domains, so Press TV and Al-Alam can be consulted in the Iranian variant ir.

However, the measure by the U.S. authorities only affects domains under their control, such as .com and .net, so Press TV and Al-Alam remain available on their Iranian domain .ir.

Press TV and Al-Alam, which are broadcast in English and Arabic, respectively, among other Iranian alternative media, have previously been the target of U.S. media censorship. In contrast, in recent years, they have had a great reception on social networks.