U.S. sanctions tech companies for helping Iran shut off Internet

June 2 (UPI) -- The Biden administration announced on Friday that it will sanction a Middle East tech firm and two senior employees for helping the Iranian government censor Internet content there.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the Iran-based technology company Arvan Cloud and its affiliate in the United Arab Emirates. Arvan Cloud's co-founders Pouya Pirhosseinloo and Farhad Fatemi were named in the sanctions as well.

"Free and unrestricted access to information is a fundamental right of all peoples, including in Iran," Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

"The United States is committed to holding accountable those who seek to undermine freedom of expression and suppress dissent, and to call out regimes who deny their citizens this right."

The Treasury Department said Arvan Cloud is a key partner of Iran's Information and Communications Technology Ministry in the development of its national intranet that is being used to disconnect the Iranian people from the global Internet.

"Arvan Cloud has a close relationship with Iran's intelligence services, including the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and Arvan Cloud executives have extensive ties to senior Iranian government officials," the Treasury said.

"The Iranian government has regularly used Internet restrictions and the throttling of Internet speeds to suppress dissent, surveil and punish Iranians for exercising their freedom of expression and assembly both online and offline, and limit the dissemination to the international community of credible information about egregious human rights violations."

The Treasury said, though, it will issue a time-limited general license to allow a winddown of transactions with Arvan Cloud and that it will support the Iranian people to freely access the Internet.

Last September, Iran's government blocked access to the Internet and messaging apps in a severe crackdown on protests triggered by the death of a young woman who had been detained by the country's morality police.

Cloudflare had complained then that mobile networks had suffered a "full shutdown" on the heels of a nationwide blackout while messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram were also affected.