Al‑Fassel and Pishtaz News present polished Arabic and Farsi news fronts, yet their X accounts and YouTube channels echo White House narratives, promoting Trump‑era Gaza policy and criticizing Iran.

Investigations by The Intercept uncovered that both sites hide a “publicly funded from the US government” disclaimer beneath About pages, a relic of the 2008 Trans‑Regional Web Initiative that fed U.S. Central Command press releases directly into Middle Eastern feeds.

Design fingerprints—identical URL structures, 404 graphics, and post‑poll icons—link the sites to former SOCOM‑run propaganda sites. The network’s continued operation sidesteps Meta’s labeling rules, enabling covert influence under the guise of independent journalism.