An Iranian website set up to collect public reports on Iranians living abroad was taken offline a day after its launch, local tech website Zoomit reported on September 16.

The platform, called Alaj, “remedy” or “cure” in Persian, had been presented as a monitoring system whose operators said they would pursue the removal of citizenship privileges and the cutting of financial and media access for those it identified, an agenda that would require the cooperation of state bodies the site has not been publicly linked to.

Its collapse within 24 hours leaves unclear who stands behind it and whether any of the reports submitted have been retained. The operators attributed the outage to the volume of visitors and to cyberattacks, saying the technical team had taken the site down temporarily to upgrade infrastructure and maintain security, and would return.

Earlier on September 14, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused sections of Iranians abroad of conspiring with the US and Israel to “incite the public,” as Washington calls on whistleblowers to come forward with information on Tehran’s financial lifelines.

 “Some Iranians abroad, aligning themselves with the enemy, seek to incite the public within the country,” Pezeshkian said during a social event, as cited by government media.

He accused Washington of seeking “to cause social collapse through the problems and restrictions they have imposed,” adding that “the US has blocked routes and seeks to sow discord within the country.”

Pezeshkian stressed that if “we manage to maintain our unity and cohesion, we will never bow to the United States.”

Iranian authorities expect a spike in tensions over winter and the upcoming one year anniversary of deadly protests which saw more than 3,000 people killed in clashes.  

Tehran has taken strict measures to suppress dissent, including a mass campaign to confiscate the assets of individuals, particularly those living abroad, on charges of treason and supporting hostile actors against the state.

In its initial announcement, the platform listed several channels for submitting reports through its website and messaging applications, and said it would keep the identities of those sending information confidential.