Apple has officially announced that they have no business in Iran following the sanctions that were imposed on the country by the United States and United Nations. This means that the company does not offer its version of App Store in the country. At the same time, iPhones are illegal in Iran. However, Iranian citizens are finding other ways of acquiring the gadget. The New York Times recently learned that they are importing phones illegally from other countries such as Dubai and Hong Kong. At the same time, Apple has not restricted Iranian developers from making local apps. These apps made in Iran are even available on the international market. However, it was revealed today that the electronics giant has embarked on a mission of shutting down Iranian Apps. This comes a few weeks after the company removed some apps from the Chinese App Store. These apps were interfering with the censorship program that has been implemented by the Chinese government making it difficult for citizens to access the global internet. Snapp is the recent app to be removed from the Iranian App store. This is an app that resembled Uber and was very popular in the country. Other apps had been removed earlier such as shopping apps and food delivery apps.
The company released a statement shortly saying that the company had removed apps due to the US sanctions regulations. Therefore, Apple also mentioned that they cannot do business, distribute or host apps for developers from nations that have a conflict of interest with the US. Tom Neumayr who is Apple spokesman said that this message was from the company. However, he refused to address the issue when confronted by journalists. The founder of an online food delivery service known as Mahdi Taghizadeh acknowledged that his app had been removed by Apple. The Iranian government has blocked the access of Twitter in Iran. Affected users expressed their dissatisfaction with the crackdown saying that they have worked very hard to get where they are. On the other hand, Google has still maintained its applications in Iran. It only requires the developers to obey the code of conduct that requires them not to sell them. Other than blocking Twitter, the Iranian government has also block Youtube services and Facebook. In the past few days, it has emerged that the technological sanctions between the United States and Iran are complicated. These restrictions were easy during the Obama administration than today.
Dil Bole Oberoi
