Fars News Agency

Not to be confused with Pars News Agency.

Fars (Pars) News Agency
AbbreviationFNA
Formation2003; 21 years ago (2003)
TypeNews agency
Location
Official language
Persian
Managing Director
Payam Tirandaz
Mohsen Mahdian
Parent organization
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Websitewww.farsnews.com Edit this at Wikidata

The Fars News Agency is a news agency in Iran managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of the three branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces. While it describes itself as "Iran's leading independent news agency",[1] it is widely described by Western news media to be a "semi-official" news agency of the Government of Iran.[2][3][4]

The Iran Disinformation Project calls Fars the "Spider Net of Lies and Deception" and the cornerstone of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ disinformation and propaganda campaign. Fars News’ disinformation campaign "reaches across Iran’s borders, spreading rumors and lies about dissidents, human rights, labor, political activists, and intellectuals."[5] One propaganda technique is to consistently publish interviews with western pundits and analysts such as conspiracy theorist James Fetzer who echo Tehran’s propaganda.[6]

The Fars News Agency .com domain has been blocked by sanctions applied by the US Treasury since 25 January 2020.[7] On 15 September 2023, the United States Department of the Treasury added Fars News Agency to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)'s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.[8]

  1. ^ "About Us". Fars News Agency. Retrieved 11 February 2014.[dead link]
  2. ^ "Iranian Seminarians Denounce Anti-Government Protesters". CNN. 12 December 2009. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Iran Investigates Reports It Detained Britons-Media". Reuters. 1 December 2009. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  4. ^ London, Spencer Ackerman Saeed Kamali Dehghan in; Washington, Sabrina Siddiqui in (13 January 2016). "Iran demands apology after detaining US navy boat crews for 'violating' Gulf waters". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Fars News, the Spider Net of Lies and Deception". Iran Disinformation Project. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Who Runs Iran's Propaganda Machine Abroad". Radio Farda. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Iranian News Agency Targeted By US Sanction Resorts To Hacking To Get Domain Back". RFE/RL. 25 January 2020. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Treasury Sanctions Iranian Officials and Companies Connected to Repression in Advance of the Anniversary of Mahsa "Zhina" Amini's Death". U.S. Department of the Treasury. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2024.