Regime Officials Access Unlimited Internet While Country Battles

Asked about the presence and activity of certain Iranian authorities and their children in social media platforms blocked for ordinary Iranians, Ali Bahadori Jahromi likened unrestricted internet access to assault weapons.

"The public don't have access to weapons, but the police have. Permissions are also issued for hunting weapons under certain conditions. The same applies to (social media) platforms, and this is what we see in most countries," Bahadori Jahromi told a gathering of Tehran University students on Tuesday.

He did not explain why the internet is restricted only in a few countries like the Islamic Republic and China, if "most countries" consider social media to be as dangerous as assault weapons.

While the public has very restricted access to the internet and social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, Iranian officials are able to have full access. The blockages have meant hundreds of thousands of Iranians are unable to work when already facing the worst economic crisis of recent history.

Documents leaked in January showed that Iran’s ministries of agriculture, communications, and industry had in separate letters requested to have access to unrestricted internet.

In one of those letters, an official at the agriculture ministry asked the communications ministry to provide "free, unfiltered and high-speed" internet to some people listed in the letter.

Since 2016, journalists close to the regime have unrestricted access to the Internet, while the government filtered more apps and websites during protests in recent months.