The United States government has seized dozens of US website domains connected to Iran, linked to what the US says are disinformation efforts, according to a national security official

CNN reported that some users are not able to access sites such as Presstv.com, which is an Iranian state-run English-language news outlet.

Several of the sites were back online within hours with new domain addresses.

“Today, pursuant to court orders, the United States seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), in violation of US sanctions,” the department said in a statement.

The blocked Iran’s State-owned Press TV on Tuesday afternoon displayed a red and white banner, in English and Persian, warning that it was the subject of criminal and intelligence investigations. The seals of the FBI and the Commerce Department were also prominently pictured.

Also, the US seized websites for Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen and satellite and TV news channels that are dedicated to reports from the holy Shiite city of Karbala, Iraq, according to the Iranian news media.

The United States blocked the sites days after Iran held a presidential vote to install Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s former chief judge and close ally of the clerical government’s supreme leader, as its top elected official.

This came days after Iran held a presidential vote to install Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s former chief judge and close ally of the clerical government’s supreme leader, as its top elected official. The US has accused Raisi of human rights abuses, and has imposed sanctions that all but prevent official dealings with him.

The Justice Department said the 33 domains used by IRTVU are owned by a United States company and that IRTVU did not obtain a license from Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control prior to utilizing the domain names.

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