Press TV is the English-language satellite channel of the Iranian government, and two Western governments have treated it that way. Britain’s regulator, Ofcom, took it off UK screens in 2012 after learning its editorial decisions were made in Tehran. Later, days after Ebrahim Raisi won Iran’s presidency, the US government seized its web addresses as part of a sanctions case.

Each case pulled back a little of the curtain on how the channel is run.

The interview that started the UK case

Ofcom’s trouble with Press TV began with Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist held in an Iranian prison for four months. The channel broadcast an interview with him that he later said was made under duress, reading from a script he was forced to use. After a year-long inquiry, Ofcom ruled in May 2011 that this was a serious breach of broadcasting standards.

The regulator first signalled it would ban the channel. It then cut the sanction to a £100,000 fine, The Guardian reported in November 2011. Press TV called the fine “paradoxical” and blamed pressure from the British royal family.

Why the licence went anyway

The fine was not the end. While Ofcom was imposing it, Press TV disclosed that editorial control lay with Press TV International in Tehran, according to Digital Spy. UK rules require a licence holder to be in “general control” of its own service.

Ofcom offered two ways out. The channel could move editorial control to the UK, or move the whole licence to Iran. Press TV applied for neither, so Ofcom revoked the licence in January 2012. The regulator also said the channel was “unwilling and unable” to pay the £100,000.

Leaked diplomatic cables add a wrinkle. The Foreign Office told a US diplomat in 2010 that it was “exploring ways to limit the operations” of Press TV, The Guardian reported. A Foreign Office spokesman said the government had not intervened in Ofcom’s process.

The US domain seizures

The US Department of Justice said it had seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU). Some Press TV sites displayed seizure notices, as did Al Alam, its Arabic-language sister channel.

The department alleged that IRTVU fell under sanctions because Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps owned or controlled it. It also said parts of the Iranian government were using the sites, “disguised as news organizations”, to run disinformation campaigns against the US. Those are the US government’s allegations, and Iran criticised the seizures. The state broadcaster IRIB accused Washington of repressing free expression.

Most of the seized domains were .com, .net and .tv addresses. Several sites were back online within hours under new addresses, the BBC reported.