Fars News Agency
The Fars News Agency is a news agency in Iran managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an armed wing loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 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.
| Abbreviation | FNA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2003 |
| Type | News agency |
| Location | |
Official language | Persian |
Managing Director | Payam Tirandaz |
| Mohsen Mahdian | |
Parent organization | Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps |
| Website | en |
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." 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 September 15, 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.