State Dept. Sanctions Tech Group Used by Portland Antifa and Linked to Hamas and Iran’s IRGC

WASHINGTON – A social media post is spreading rapidly, claiming that the State Department has revealed Portland's Antifa chapter was being "FUNDED by Hamas and the IRGC" with the rallying cry "Lock them up!" While the situation is more nuanced, the core claim about a connection is based on a real State Department action taken in August 2026.

On August 26, 2026, the State Department announced sanctions against Autistici/Inventati, an Italy-based tech collective, for providing digital services—such as encrypted communications and web hosting—to a broad range of extremist groups . Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, "Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West," and that the collective's services were used by "the most active and violent Antifa cells in the United States and across the world" .

Rose City Antifa Named in State Department Memo

A State Department memo specifically identified Portland-based Rose City Antifa as a U.S. group that relied on the A/I Collective's tools and services . The memo alleges the group used these services to organize and incite violent and criminal acts, including a "laser party" attack on U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopters . It also claims the group disseminated illegally obtained personal information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel and encouraged attacks on them .

The Connection to Hamas and the IRGC

The viral claim that Rose City Antifa was directly "funded" by Hamas and the IRGC is an oversimplification . The State Department action did not allege that these foreign groups sent money to Antifa.

Instead, the connection is that Rose City Antifa and these designated foreign terrorist organizations were using the same digital infrastructure provided by the A/I Collective . The State Department memo explains that a media organization used A/I Collective tools to disseminate information to groups including Hamas, the IRGC, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) .

A State Department official summarized the allegation as follows:

"These tools are specifically designed to support the operations of far-left terrorist networks... all while remaining anonymous, untraceable, and beyond the reach of the law." 

The Broader Crackdown

The action is part of the Trump administration's broader effort to treat violent far-left networks as a counterterrorism problem . The A/I Collective is described as a group that vets users for ideological alignment and exclusively offers its tools to radical left-wing actors . The sanction bars Americans and U.S. financial institutions from doing business with the collective and freezes any of its assets under U.S. jurisdiction .