Fars News Agency

Iranian 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. 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.

Fars News Agency was founded in 2003. In addition to Persian reporting, the agency also provides news in English, Turkish, Arabic, and Dari.

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. 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."

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.

In January 2014, Fars posted a series of articles that suggested U. S. security policy was being driven by an "alien/extraterrestrial intelligence agenda". The report said that proof was found in a Federal Security Service report carried out by Edward Snowden.

In February 2016, Fars was one of 40 Iranian news agencies that pledged money toward the bounty against Salman Rushdie in regards to The Satanic Verses controversy. Fars promised $30,000 for the killing of Rushdie.