27 Jun
2014
27 Jun
'14
11:13 a.m.
Yes. ccTLDs are treated as national sovereign resources.
By whom and where?
Regardless, there are 'State Sponsors of Terrorism'-related amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that come into play here.
The US has a long policy of not messing with ccTLDs, even of countries that we don't like such as .kp, .cu, and .iq (back in the day). If they started now there would be a firestorm, and not just from companies we don't like. I expect ICANN's response will be to produce what correspondence they have, and to say they have no contracts with Iran, receive no income from Iran, and hold no Iranian assets. The .ir and the new Arabic script