Meta announced it has removed 60 coordinated accounts linked to Iran that targeted Azeri-speaking audiences in Azerbaijan and Türkiye across multiple platforms.
The network used fake accounts—some detected and disabled automatically—to post content, manage Pages and Groups, and comment on their own posts to boost visibility.
According to Meta’s report: “We removed 17 accounts on Facebook, 22 Facebook Pages, and 21 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior. This network originated in Iran and targeted Azeri-speaking audiences in Azerbaijan and Türkiye across multiple internet services including ours, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and their own websites. We removed this activity before the operators were able to build authentic audiences on our apps.”.
Meta’s investigation was aided by data shared by Google Threat Intelligence Group and identified links to the STORM-2035 operation reported by OpenAI and Microsoft in August 2024.
The removed accounts had a combined follower base of about 44,000 on Facebook Pages and 63,000 on Instagram. The operation spent roughly $70 on ads, mostly paid in US and Canadian dollars.
This action followed complaints from Azerbaijan’s Electronic Security Service (ETX), which flagged suspicious accounts during the Iranian president’s recent visit to Azerbaijan. Meta also removed four major Russia-linked news pages targeting Azerbaijan in the past month as part of ongoing efforts to combat coordinated disinformation campaigns in the region.
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A U.S. submarine strike sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, leaving at least 80 dead, the country’s deputy foreign minister said. Meanwhile, Iran postponed the funeral of its late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to state media.
The election of Iran’s next supreme leader could provide an opportunity to end the ongoing regional war involving Israel, the U.S. and Iran, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the United States is making gains in its conflict with Iran after a key Iranian naval target was destroyed, confirming that the strike was carried out by a U.S. submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka. Rescue efforts are now under way for the ship’s crew.
The U.S. Department of Defense has released a video of a submarine strike on an Iranian warship off the southern Sri Lankan coast. At least 80 people died in the U.S. attack on the vessel, Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
A torpedo from a U.S. submarine has sunk an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth told reporters. The Sri Lankan navy carried out a rescue operation for dozens of sailors in the wake of the strike.
The U.S. embassy in Riyadh was hit by two drones resulting in a limited fire and some material damage, the kingdom's defence ministry said in a post on X on Tuesday, citing an initial assessment.
Shahid Motahari Sub-Speciality Hospital in northern Tehran and parts of the Golestan Palace were bombed on day two of the U.S.‑Israel strikes. AnewZ Touraj Shiralilou is in Iran's capital city and said that the facility was flattened in an airstrike.
A U.S. submarine strike sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, leaving at least 80 dead, the country’s deputy foreign minister said. Meanwhile, Iran postponed the funeral of its late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to state media.
The election of Iran’s next supreme leader could provide an opportunity to end the ongoing regional war involving Israel, the U.S. and Iran, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said.
The U.S. Department of Defense has released a video of a submarine strike on an Iranian warship off the southern Sri Lankan coast. At least 80 people died in the U.S. attack on the vessel, Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister said.
Rising tensions in the Middle East are beginning to affect Kazakhstan’s economy and citizens, disrupting grain trade across the Caspian Sea and prompting the evacuation of hundreds of Kazakh nationals from several countries in the region.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the country’s expanding gas exports to Europe and its renewable energy ambitions during the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council’s 12th Ministerial Meeting and the Green Energy Advisory Council’s 4th Ministerial Meeting in Baku on Tuesday (3 March).
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