The United States announces the lifting of certain trade bans with Iran, in order to allow technology companies to provide platforms and services allowing Iranians to access the internet (AFP/Archives/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
The United States announced Friday the lifting of certain bans on trade with Iran, in order to allow technology companies to provide platforms and services allowing Iranians to access the Internet, whose access has been severely limited by the authorities.
The Biden administration has thus relaxed certain sanctions aimed at Iran, in order to authorize “technology companies to offer the Iranian people more options for secure external platforms and services”, announced the US Treasury Department in a press release.
“The United States is taking steps to support the free flow of information and access to factual information for the people of Iran,” the ministry added.
Iranian authorities have imposed drastic restrictions on the internet, including blocking access to Instagram and WhatsApp, due to protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by the morality police.
NGOs accuse the Iranian authorities of trying to limit the gathering capacity of demonstrators and to be able to repress them behind closed doors.
The update “will expand the range of internet services available to Iranians”, to help “the Iranian people be better equipped to counter the government’s efforts to monitor and censor them”, commented the deputy treasury secretary , Wally Adeyemo, in a statement.
The impact of the move may not be immediate, however, because it “does not remove all tools for suppressing communications,” administration officials acknowledged in a conference call with reporters.
But “over time, it will give the Iranian people more tools to deal with these repressive efforts by the Iranian government.”
-Starlink-
“The Iranian government has cut off internet access to most of its 80 million citizens to prevent them – and the world – from watching its violent crackdown on peaceful protesters,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. a separate press release.
He added that Washington will “help ensure that the Iranian people do not remain isolated and ignorant.”
“In the coming weeks, OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) will continue to issue guidelines to support the administration’s commitment to promoting the free flow of information, which the Iranian regime has always refused to his people,” said Wally Adeyemo.
On Monday, billionaire Elon Musk had indicated that his aerospace company SpaceX intended to request an exemption from sanctions against Tehran from the American administration in order to offer Internet connection services in Iran via its constellation of Starlink satellites.
Their services are not part of the relaxations announced on Friday, and the company will, indeed, have to apply for a specific exemption, an administration official said during the conference call on Friday.
Members of the US Congress, Democrats and Republicans, this week sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging her to ease restrictions on internet services to Iran, “to clarify the rules on the provision of to the people of Iran” and “to expedite all related license applications from companies (…) including Starlink”.
At least 17 people have died since the protests began in Iran, according to a report from state media.
© 2022 AFP
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