TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has slammed opponents of Internet freedom, saying that restricting access would be “absolutely wrong.”
“These days, the Internet is like oxygen for people... to want to restrict it would be absolutely wrong,” Rouhani said, adding that this was particularly true during the coronavirus pandemic.
“How else can we expect people to do everything from home and teach their children online during the pandemic,” the Isna news agency cited the president as saying.
The comments come after Communications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi was summoned by judicial authorities last week for allegedly preventing Instagram from being blocked and ignoring instructions on Internet restrictions.
Jahromi was released on bail, but his case is to be pursued further as there have been reports against him from various authorities.
Both the Iranian judiciary and the parliament are in favour of restrictions on the web, arguing that it is responsible for “social immorality” in the country.
Thousands of Internet sites are blocked in Iran, but the restrictions are ignored by most Iranians. It is possible to gain access to blocked pages via data tunnels, which are also officially prohibited.
In another development, a top Iranian official on Wednesday said Israel was waging a “psychological war” after the Jewish state’s army said new “offensive options” were being drawn up in case they were needed against the Islamic republic.
Mahmoud Vaezi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, also vowed that his country was ready and willing to defend itself.
“We have no intention of going to war, but we are serious about defending the country,” he said.
Israel accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies. The Jewish state also frequently targets militant groups in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military chief General Aviv Kochavi said on Tuesday he had ordered new plans be drawn up this year to counter Iran’s nuclear capabilities, in case political leaders decided to target the country.
“The power to initiate them lies with the political echelon,” Kochavi stressed. “However, the offensive options need to be prepared, ready and on the table.”
Iran’s Vaezi shot back on Wednesday that “they are conducting a psychological war.”
Responding to a question on the sidelines of a council of ministers meeting, he charged that Israel has “practically no plans, no capacity”.
Iran’s recent military manoeuvres, testing missiles and drones, Vaezi added, showed that “our armed forces are trained” to defend Iran.
Kochavi’s remarks came nearly a week after the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, who has signalled he wants to return to dialogue with Iran.
His predecessor Donald Trump had unilaterally withdrawn Washington in 2018 from a nuclear deal Tehran had struck with major world powers.
Biden’s team has argued Iran must first return to strict compliance with its nuclear commitments under the deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
Tehran has demanded an “unconditional” lifting of punishing sanctions first, and called on Washington to stop seeking to “extract concessions”.
Israel rejects the original nuclear deal, and Kochavi reiterated its view that “any agreement that resembles the 2015 agreement is a bad thing, both strategically and operationally”.
— dpa/AFP
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