Some VPNs, Anti-Filtering Apps Directly Funded by US Gov’t: Iranian Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi warned against the growing use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and anti-filtering software in the country and said the US government is funding some of them.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Azari Jahromi explained the reasons behind the Iranian government’s recent move to start blocking VPNs and anti-filtering applications following a ban on the messaging application Telegram.
While some messengers, such as Telegram, are only suspected of having links with foreign intelligence services, he said, there is no doubt about such links when it comes to the anti-filtering apps.
Some of the applications are funded directly by the US government, the Iranian minister stated.
Web service providers in Iran gradually started cutting off access to Telegram in late April following a ruling by the Tehran-based Culture and Media Court.
Back in January, Head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali raised the alarm that the enemy is seeking to spy on Iranians and establish its cultural dominance over the Islamic Republic through using cyberspace and social media networks.
He further described the volume of information obtained from the Iranian people in social media networks as huge and said if the enemies gain access to the information, they can establish political, cultural and social dominance over Iran.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has also on many occasions urged vigilance in the face of enemy ploys to gain a political and cultural foothold in Iran, warning that the consequences of such infiltration would be much worse than that of enemy’s economic influence.
