U.S. Seizes More Pirate Sports Streaming Domains, But Iranian Fallbacks Remain

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📰 New article from TorrentFreak

U.S. Seizes More Pirate Sports Streaming Domains, But Iranian Fallbacks Remain

https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-seizes-more-pirate-sports-streaming-domains-but-iranian-fallbacks-remain/

The U.S. Department of Justice just dealt another blow to pirate sports streams, seizing over 100 domains in the ongoing “Operation Offsides.” But here’s the twist: the pirates aren’t just picking up the pieces—they’re moving house entirely.

While the crackdown targets familiar faces like buffstreams.plus and footybite.app, operators have quietly pivoted to Iran’s .ir country-code top-level domain. Think of it as a digital safe house. These Iranian domains resolve to the same Ukrainian servers but use local nameservers and SSL certificates, effectively putting them out of reach for American law enforcement.

Why the switch? It’s a masterclass in jurisdictional arbitrage. The U.S. can’t seize .ir domains because American registrars are banned from selling them, and Tehran has no incentive to cooperate with Washington. Plus, Iran’s updated privacy laws mean who actually owns these sites remains a mystery.

The kicker? These weren’t desperate, last-minute registrations. SSL logs show many .ir domains were quietly prepared nearly three years ago, waiting in the wings for exactly this moment.

The Bottom Line:

  • More Seizures: Over 100 new domains taken down this weekend.
  • New Hideout: Pirates are migrating to Iranian .ir domains to avoid U.S. jurisdiction.
  • Long Game: These backup domains were likely set up years in advance.
  • Cat and Mouse: As long as sanctions exist, pirate streams will keep finding new borders to cross.

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