Internet Access Smoother In Iran After EU Sanctions

Social media users in Iran say following the designation of Abr Arvan company by the European Union many websites are not disrupted anymore and can be accessed easily.

According to digital activists, after the EU sanctioned Abrarvan, the company lost the servers it was using in Europe and is unable to censor Iran's internet anymore.

Arvan Cloud or Abr Arvan is an Iranian IT company supporting the Iranian government’s efforts to control access to the Intranet in Iran.

The European Union sanctioned the company on November 14 for its role in disrupting the internet to pave the ground for the regime to crack down on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.

The EU says since 2020, Abr Arvan has been a major partner in the project of the Iranian government, in general, and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, in particular, to set up a separate, Iranian version of the internet.

“Such a national intranet with connecting points to the global internet will help to control the flow of information between the Iranian intranet and the global internet,” said the EU.

According to the EU, Abr Arvan is involved in censorship and efforts of the Iranian government to shut down the internet in response to recent protests in Iran.

“It is also associated with persons responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran, notably the EU-listed Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology.”