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Fars News Agency
The Fars News Agency (Persian: خبرگزاری فارس) is a news agency in Iran that is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) [citation needed], one of the three branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces. While it describes itself as "Iran's leading independent news agency", it is widely described by Western news media to be a "semi-official" news agency of the Government of Iran.
Fars has been described by the Iran Disinformation Project as 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." One propaganda technique is to consistently publish interviews with western pundits and analysts such as conspiracy theorist James Fetzer who echo Tehran's propaganda.
The Fars News Agency .com domain has been blocked by sanctions applied by the US Treasury since 25 January 2020. On 15 September 2023, the United States Department of the Treasury added the Fars News Agency to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)'s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
The Fars News Agency was founded in 2003. In addition to Persian reporting, the agency also provides news in English, Turkish, Arabic, and Dari. Fars formerly published all content on its website under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
In June 2012, Fars released an interview with Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in which Morsi is said to have told Fars that he wanted to restore ties with Iran and wanted to "review" the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. Morsi later disputed the authenticity of the interview. Fars responded by providing what it said was audio of the interview. Arabic newscaster Al Arabiya quoted unnamed experts who said it was not Morsi's voice.
In September 2012, the agency picked up a story from The Onion, a satirical newspaper, about a supposed survey showing "an overwhelming majority of rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than U.S. President Barack Obama in the upcoming U.S. elections". The Iranian version copied the original word-for-word, even including a made-up quote from a fictional West Virginia resident who says he would rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because "he takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does."
The Fars News Agency later apologized for its mistake, but claimed that a majority of Americans would prefer anyone outside of the American political system to President Obama and American statesmen.
In April 2013, the agency carried a story claiming a 27-year-old Iranian scientist had invented a time machine that allowed people to see into the future. A few days later the story was removed, and replaced with a story quoting an Iranian government official that no such device had been registered.
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Fars News Agency
The Fars News Agency (Persian: خبرگزاری فارس) is a news agency in Iran that is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) [citation needed], one of the three branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces. While it describes itself as "Iran's leading independent news agency", it is widely described by Western news media to be a "semi-official" news agency of the Government of Iran.
Fars has been described by the Iran Disinformation Project as 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." One propaganda technique is to consistently publish interviews with western pundits and analysts such as conspiracy theorist James Fetzer who echo Tehran's propaganda.
The Fars News Agency .com domain has been blocked by sanctions applied by the US Treasury since 25 January 2020. On 15 September 2023, the United States Department of the Treasury added the Fars News Agency to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)'s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
The Fars News Agency was founded in 2003. In addition to Persian reporting, the agency also provides news in English, Turkish, Arabic, and Dari. Fars formerly published all content on its website under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
In June 2012, Fars released an interview with Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in which Morsi is said to have told Fars that he wanted to restore ties with Iran and wanted to "review" the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. Morsi later disputed the authenticity of the interview. Fars responded by providing what it said was audio of the interview. Arabic newscaster Al Arabiya quoted unnamed experts who said it was not Morsi's voice.
In September 2012, the agency picked up a story from The Onion, a satirical newspaper, about a supposed survey showing "an overwhelming majority of rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than U.S. President Barack Obama in the upcoming U.S. elections". The Iranian version copied the original word-for-word, even including a made-up quote from a fictional West Virginia resident who says he would rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because "he takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does."
The Fars News Agency later apologized for its mistake, but claimed that a majority of Americans would prefer anyone outside of the American political system to President Obama and American statesmen.
In April 2013, the agency carried a story claiming a 27-year-old Iranian scientist had invented a time machine that allowed people to see into the future. A few days later the story was removed, and replaced with a story quoting an Iranian government official that no such device had been registered.