The US Department of the Treasury on Friday took action against Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology, for his role in the Iranian regime’s internet censorship across the country.
“Iran’s leaders know that a free and open internet exposes their illegitimacy, so they seek to censor internet access to quell anti-regime protests,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement.
“We are sanctioning Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology for restricting internet access, including to popular messaging applications that help tens of millions of Iranians stay connected to each other and the outside world,” he added.
Internet access in Iran, managed by Azari Jahromi’s ministry, has been blocked for the past several days in the wake of anti-regime protests throughout the country.
Iran used internet blackout as a tool to further suppress people in the past few years.
