Source: Al Jazeera:
Iran’s telecommunications agency has announced the suspension of access to Gmail, the Google email service, in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal website.The country’s telecoms provider has previously said it would be launching its own national email service to replace foreign ones.
The announcement comes as Iran, marking 31 years since its revolution on Thursday, is also braced for new anti-government demonstrations by the opposition.
Opposition protesters made heavy use of available online tools last June, following the disputed re-electionof Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, to organise and publicise their cause. The latest move by the government is seen by some as a new attempt to stifle dissent.
Traffic drop
Google has not been able to confirm it is being blocked in Iran, but said users there did appear to be having trouble accessing their mail service.
“We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly,” Google said in a statement on Wednesday.