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Iranwire – Mahmoud Nabavian, deputy chairman of the Article 90 Parliamentary Committee, said that Iran has lost control of the Internet within the country and that it is important for Iranian authorities to reassert its control with the help of the Chinese.
In an interview published in Mehr News Agency on April 11, Nabavian, referring to the details of the 25-year Iran-China agreement, pointed to re-exerting control over “search engines, social media, and email” as Iran’s main goals in digital security cooperation with China.
Nabavian also said “we can cooperate with China in the production of tablets, laptops and mobile phones and in artificial intelligence.”
Another member of parliament had previously also said that Iran was going to create a “national Internet” in cooperation with China.
“The plan to nationalize the Internet is not a recent idea, it goes back to many years ago,” said Mohammad Saleh Jokar, the parliamentarian said. According to the country’s development plans, he said, the government is obliged to nationalize Iran’s Internet, and all the conditions are in place for this to happen. China is set to help achieve this goal through a document of cooperation with Iran.”
The 25-year Iran-China cooperation agreement was signed between the Islamic Republic and China in the last week of March during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Tehran, after being finalized under the supervision of Ali Larijani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative.
The text of the agreement has not yet been released, due to Chinese insistence, but parts of it appear to be related to the control of cyberspace.
In his Nowruz speech, Khamenei criticized the current state of Internet control and management in Iran, saying that it had allowed “the enemy’s” psychological propaganda and attempts to undermine elections to occur.
“All countries in the world manage their cyberspace, but we are proud to have unleashed it,” Khamenei said in a sarcastic rebuke.
His remarks sparked concern and speculation over further restrictions on the Internet in Iran.
