Tensions between the US and Iran continued to rise throughout June. On 21 June President Trump tweeted that he’d called off airstrikes against Iran with less than ten minutes to spare. It didn’t take long for these tensions to boil over into cyberspace, with further reports soon emerging of US cyber-attacks against Iranian military systems.
At the same time, Iran’s digital ecosystem was disrupted again with the demise of the ‘forked’ Telegram clients Hotgram and Golden Telegram, which were removed from Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store in April 2019. The two Iran-produced Telegram clients received significant support from parts of the Iranian political establishment, including whitelisting in the country’s filtering system.
The removal of these apps signals a renewed assertiveness on the part of the Iranian judiciary to intervene in ongoing policy debates. As the Supreme Council of Cyberspace continues its policy-making slumber, we may see the judiciary continuing to flex its muscles in the coming months.
No SCC Meeting for a Second Month
No SCC meeting took place in June, for the second month in a row. We believe this could be due to the growing tension between members as a result of recent changes in membership.
Alternatively, the ongoing intensification of geopolitical tensions and Iran’s continued economic malaise may have just resulted in the government de-prioritising ICT policy development.
Judiciary Announces Imminent ‘Positive Changes’ to Cyberspace
On 19 June Iran’s Attorney-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced that from the beginning of Iranian calendar month Tir (22 June), Iran would witness “positive changes” in cyberspace thanks to a number of decisions taken by the judiciary. Montazeri did not outline what these changes would be, but he said they would only take place if the government does what is asked of them.
The judiciary has often taken a more hardline approach towards information control and filtering, and as with the filtering of Telegram they have a history of taking unilateral action when they have disagreed with Rouhani’s government.
As of the time of writing, it remains unclear what these ‘positive changes’ entailed, with no significant service alterations observed from 22 June.
ICT Minister Receives Formal Warning from Parliament
On 17 June Iran’s ICT Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi attended a session of the Iranian Parliament, where he responded to questions from Iranian MPs about the development and implementation of eGovernment services, and the development of Internet infrastructure in rural communities.
At the end of the meeting 83 MPs voted to express satisfaction with Jahromi’s answers. 83 others voted to express dissatisfaction, and 7 abstained. As a result, Jahromi received a formal warning from Parliament.
Iranians Experience Day-Long Internet Disruptions
On 26 June from 7pm, Iranians started experiencing network disruptions and limited Internet connectivity. Services did not return to normal until after midnight the next day. Although Jahromi claimed that the disruption was caused by technical problems on the route between Frankfurt and Bulgaria, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and Article 19 raised questions about the validity of Minister’s claims.
US Launches Cyber-Attacks on Iranian Military Systems
On 23 June, a number of US-based media outlets reported that the US had launched a cyber-attack on Iranian military systems on 20 June.
It was reported that the cyber-attacks disabled a number of computer systems controlling missile launchers. Iranian officials dismissed these claims, with ICT Minister Jahromi stating that the attacks had been unsuccessful.
Furthermore, Jahromi claimed that over the last year Iran had successfully neutralised 33 million cyber-attacks from outside Iran. Iranian officials have frequently cited the experience of Stuxnet to make the case for SHOMA. In the context of growing tensions with the US, we anticipate that the Iranian government is likely to use any cyber-attacks as further justification for developing SHOMA.
Actor Mohsen Afshani Arrested by FATA
On 26 June Iranian media reported that actor Mohsen Afshani was arrested by the Cyber Police (FATA) after publishing an Instagram video of himself holding a gun. Although the video was deleted from his account, it was widely shared among Iranian users.
Cases such as this provide FATA with the opportunity to publicly boast about their ongoing monitoring of social media. This is particularly relevant to Instagram, which in recent months has been the target of heavy criticism from hardline conservatives.
Citing ‘Misinformation’, Twitter Removes Thousands of Iranian-linked Accounts
On 13 June Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity Yoel Roth published a blog announcing that 4,779 accounts originating in Iran have been removed by the company. Twitter believes that “all are associated with — or directly backed by — the Iranian government”. The accounts were removed as part of efforts to prevent election interference and misinformation on the platform.
In recent months there have been a number of occasions in which social networks have announced the removal of Iranian accounts. The company has justified this by claiming the deletions have been to combat misinformation on the platforms, or else to maintain compliance with US sanctions.
New Cryptocurrency ‘Peyman’ Fails to Excite
On 19 June Valiollah Fatemi, the CEO of Kuknos, announced that from 22 June Iran’s first cryptocurrency ‘Peyman’ will be available for limited sale through the company. Peyman’s value is said to be pegged against the value of gold. The launch of Peyman appears to be part of an effort by Iranian authorities to create excitement about the use of cryptocurrencies, especially with regard to purchasing domestic products.
So far, Peyman has failed to garner much attention from either Iranian users, consumers or the media.
ICT Officials Announce Implementation of 62.5% of eGovernment Projects
On 15 June the Head of Iran’s Technology Organisation Amir Nazemy announced that 62.5% of Iran’s eGovernment projects have been successfully implemented. The ICT Ministry has been criticised in recent months for failing to deliver eGovernment projects quickly enough.
Messaging App Gap Comes to the Rescue, Forges Relationship With the Red Crescent
On 10 June the CEO of the messaging app Gap Mehdi Anjidi announced that the company has signed a contract with Iran’s Red Crescent Society in order to deliver a geolocation-based rescue system.
Anjidi stated that the system would be hosted and supported by Gap at no cost. The success of domestic messaging apps will be dependent on their ability to deliver localised services to users that foreign messaging apps are unable to provide.
Judiciary has its way as ‘Forked Telegram Clients Are Shutdown
On 22 June Hotgram and Golden Telegram switched off their servers and discontinued state sanctioned access to Telegram. The apps, which have been receiving support and legal protection from some authorities in Iran, were strongly opposed by judiciary officials.
Google removed the apps from its App Store in April amid fears for the security and privacy of users.
