Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday urged the new government to tighten cyber controls in the Islamic republic, which has severely restricted internet use in recent years.
“What is important is that the rule of law is applied in the virtual space,” Khamenei said during his first meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian's new cabinet.
“If you don't have laws (to regulate the internet), create laws, and based on those laws, take control,” he added.
Khamenei's remarks came despite Pezeshkian's campaign pledge to ease long-standing internet restrictions in Iran.
Iran has had tight controls on internet use for years, including restricting access to popular social media apps such as Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Following protests over fuel prices in 2019 and demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022, Tehran imposed tight restrictions on internet use.
A number of messaging apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, as well as Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube are also blocked.
For years, Iranians have used virtual private networks, or VPNs, to circumvent restrictions.
In his speech, Khamenei also touched on the incident of the arrest of Pavel Durov, the Russian founder of Telegram, who was arrested in France on suspicion of failing to control crime on the application.
“This poor young man was arrested by the French… They arrested you, put you in prison, threatened to sentence you to 20 years, this is because he violated their rules,” Khamenei said.
“Violations of governance are unacceptable,” he said.
In recent years, Iran has stated that WhatsApp and Instagram will only be allowed to operate if they have legal representation in the country.
But Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said it has no plans to set up an office in Iran. (ah/es)
