WASHINGTON: The State Department is suspending funding for a taxpayer-funded Twitter account on Iran that sharply attacked critics of President Donald Trump鈥檚 hawkish policy, an official said Saturday.
The Iran Disinformation Project was set up late last year with a stated mission to expose the 鈥渘efarious influence鈥� of the clerical regime in Tehran, including by tackling its 鈥渟ocial media manipulation.鈥�
The account, in English, Farsi and occasionally Arabic, is funded by the State Department鈥檚 Global Engagement Center, which is in charge of countering foreign propaganda.
To its modest number of Twitter followers, which stood at just over 2,700 on Saturday, @IranDisinfo offers a narrative in line with the Trump administration, highlighting human rights concerns in Iran, attacking its leaders across the spectrum and using the hashtag #40YearsOfFailure to describe the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrew the pro-US shah.
But some of the many US-based critics of the Trump administration鈥檚 hard line on Iran, who fear his policies could lead to war, voiced alarm at also being attacked by the account, which at times suggested they were stooges for the regime.
A State Department official said that while 鈥渢he bulk鈥� of @IranDisinfo鈥檚 work was acceptable, the Department 鈥渋dentified recent tweets that fall outside the scope of the project to counter foreign state propaganda or disinformation.鈥�
On Friday, 鈥渢he Department suspended the funding for the Iran Disinfo project until the implementer takes necessary steps to ensure that any future activity remains within the agreed scope of work,鈥� he said.
Negar Mortazavi, a prominent Twitter commentator on Iran who is based in Washington, highlighted the irony that she cannot return to Iran because she has worked for US-funded Voice of America.
鈥淍IranDisinfo uses my own tax money to attack and smear me and call me 鈥楧evil鈥檚 Advocate,鈥欌€� she tweeted.
The account also attacked Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post journalist who was detained for a year and a half in Iran.
@IranDisInfo assailed him for using his column in the newspaper to criticize Trump鈥檚 ban on visas for Iranians and citizens of several other Muslim-majority countries, saying the former prisoners was ignoring abuses by Tehran.