“We have to admit the fact that we have weakness in this field,” Jahromi said. And then, when asked by Holt if Iran was losing the “propaganda war,” the young communications czar said: “Yes, we have lost it.”

In other words, while the United States and Israeli governments are relentlessly blasting Iran via vacuous and deeply mendacious throw-away lines such as “Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror,” Iran, says the astute Mr. Jahromi, has not effectively countered this false thesis with an effective rebuttal campaign that could indeed be propelled by social media.

The good news for Iran is, in spite of whatever shortcomings in Tehran’s messaging, the American people are broadly opposed to any conflict with Iran and do not support any Trump-led efforts toward war. According to a recent Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey, 57 percent of voters opposed “military confrontation with Iran” unless Iran first attacked the United States. Only five percent of respondents wanted the United States to “declare war on Iran,” and indeed, 78 percent of voters approved of Trump’s decision to call off any retaliatory strike after Iran downed an unmanned U.S. Air Force RQ-4A Global Hawk surveillance drone earlier this summer.

The bad news for Iran is, the American people seem not to understand the effect or rationale for sanctions on Tehran, and certainly not even 2 Americans in every 100 know much of anything about the history of American meddling there, let alone that it dates at least to 1953.  Most Americans are utterly oblivious of any part, let alone the entirety, of a long record of cruel American actions against Iranian citizens across time. But this record is long and despicable, alas, and includes, among other things, support of a repressive regime; an asset freeze and economic blockade; aid for an unprovoked Iraqi invasion against Iran in a horrific war that included Saddam Hussein’s deployment of American-supplied chemical weapons against Iranian troops and civilians; the shoot-down of Iran Air Flight #655; and ultimately, more sanctions, cyber-warfare attacks such as the Stuxnet virus, and assistance with Israeli moves against Iran that have included assassinations of innocent scientists.

This 7-decade history of U.S. meddling preceded Mr. Trump’s unprecedented and completely unwarranted abrogation of the Iran Nuclear Deal, or JCPOA, which featured the most comprehensive and intrusive inspections regime in the history of arms control, and was enshrined, as a matter of international law, in U.N. Security Council Resolution #2231. All the details of this, and the illegal American breach of #2231, would be new news to the vast majority of the American people, a fact which alone confirms that Iran has lost the “public relations war” vis-à-vis the false propaganda promulgated by the American and Israeli governments and biased media organs.

How Iran can turn the tide of American public opinion 

Righteous morality and truth are on the side of the Iranians vis-à-vis the American and Israeli position here, but time may not be: coming out of recession in 2015 as the Nuclear Deal was signed, the Iranian economy exploded with 13.4% real GDP growth in 2016, according to the World Bank, followed by nearly 4% growth in 2017, as nervousness over what President Trump might do began to crimp inbound foreign investment and trade. And indeed, economic contraction has returned to Iran in 2018-19 as the deal collapsed and the Americans effectively quarantined the Iranian economy.

It is therefore a propitious moment to recapture the high ground in the campaign to change American opinion about Iran, utilizing the very best weapons possible in such an effort: the truth, and the moral superiority of Iran’s position.  Changing public opinion in America will all by itself end the insanity of the Trump Administration’s morally obtuse policy set on Iran, and begin the path toward normalized relations.  Here’s how this can happen, perhaps more quickly than many would believe:

•     Invite a comprehensive list of American policymakers and opinion influencers to Iran for a 7 to 10 day visit, to detail before them a retrospective history of U.S./Iran relations and in particular, the recent years of economic deprivation and the harm they have caused to Iranian living standards, as well as meet with Iranian government officials and business leaders, up to and including President Rouhani himself.
•   The list of attendees could include the following, or people like them:
•    Politicians: Senator Rand Paul and his father, former Congressman Ron Paul; U.S. Army Major Tulsi Gabbard and U.S. Navy Admiral Joe Sestak, sitting and former U.S. Congressmen, respectively, and both current Democratic presidential candidates; former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; former President of the United States Barack Obama [Obama’s stature may require he come to Iran separately, but there is high likelihood he would accept an invitation to go to Tehran, especially if meeting the Supreme Leader and/or President];
•    Armed Forces Veterans: U.S. Army 4-star General Barry McCaffrey [now an NBC News analyst]; U.S. Army Colonels Andrew Bacevich [Quincy Institute], Douglas Macgregor [Fox News], and Lawrence Wilkerson [William and Mary, MSNBC];
•    Major Media: Tucker Carlson [Fox News]; Anderson Cooper [CNN]; Rachel Maddow [MSNBC], and others;
•   Commentators: Philip Giraldi [ex-CIA, Council for the National Interest], Daniel Larison [The American Conservative]; Gideon Levy [Haaretz]; Elijah Magnier [Al Rai Media Group]; John Pilger/Gareth Porter, well-known independent journalists; Trita Parsi [Quincy Institute];
•  Business community: Former Chairman of Exxon Mobil and former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

This list is hardly exhaustive, and could include dozens more names of influential media commentators, economists, and American business professionals especially; certainly, all major worldwide media outlets’ general news reporting functions, similar to Lester Holt’s capacity [and as opposed to media opinion/commentary people, per above] would be invited and likely cover the event.

•    The goal of such a conference in Tehran would be simple: tell Iran’s “side of the story” in excruciating detail to a wide expanse of American public opinion-makers, who will in turn return to the United States and relay Iran’s history, perspective, and the facts which are uniformly favorable to Tehran.  Further, the very convening of such a meeting with high-profile American attendees would draw major media coverage on a global basis.

Iran’s message to the Americans, conveyed in person by Foreign Minister Zarif and others including, say, the gifted English-speaking analyst at the University of Tehran, Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi, is a simple one:

•   Here’s the history of Iran’s foreign policy, that includes no invasion of foreign soil since the Persian leader Nader Shah attacked India’s Mughal  Empire in 1738;
•    Actual history of U.S./Iran relations, dating to 1953;
•    Record of American cruelties, in detail;
•    List of instances where Iran has helped, or tried to help, the Americans [e.g., after 9/11, cooperation vis-à-vis the Taliban, or al Qaeda];
•   Recitation of Iran’s national defense strategy, the security challenges facing Iran, and Iran’s legitimate right of self-defense [also detail how American arms exports into the region and the American presence have destabilized the region].
•    Snapshot of the Islamic Republic of Iran today [e.g., democratic system of governance; role and opportunities for women in society, from business ownership to automobile driving to academic pursuit to political process participation; respect for minority religions including Christianity and Judaism which is highly unique in the Muslim world; and, entrepreneurial-driven market economy and institutions of banking/finance/insurance and private property ownership], and why and how Iran is different from so many of its neighbors.

The U.S. government well might, once word spread of such a convened meeting in Tehran, seek to stop it. But the high profile of invitees would prevent this, and the very momentum this alone would give the meeting would only further ensure intense global media coverage.  Iran’s demand is a simple one:  the threat of an insane war in the region is very real, beyond insane and needless, but very easy to prevent. For this to happen, the Islamic Republic deserves the respect and morally proper treatment accorded all legitimate governments of the world, especially one as democratic as is the regime in Tehran, and this should entail immediate cessation of all economic sanctions and a return to normalization and full trade and diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. A regional multi-lateral dialogue of the kind currently being pursued by Foreign Minister Zarif could then ensue, with the region’s inhabitants deciding how to solve regional challenges.

Where there are American allegations of human rights abuses, government corruption, or malfeasance within the Iranian government or economy, these should be addressed head-on, rather than avoided; this would only earn the admiration of the audience.

Such a conference [as well as, perhaps, a few ancillary smaller meetings such as one especially for President Obama], held in Iran, with many high profile participants and thus covered widely by global media outlets, would be, as Americans say, a “home run” for Iran.

Coupled with a newly-sustained effort at global media outreach by Tehran, it would lead to a viral spreading of the truth and about American policies toward Iran which have been nothing short of a disgrace over time. It would be a dagger in the plans of any kinetic conflict currently housed in the fevered brains of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his friends, and would be an accelerant to an end to the American-led economic blockade of Iran, something history will, in the fullness of time, rightly regard as a corrupt outrage.

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 Iran’s judiciary has issued an order banning Telegram completely, citing citizens’ complaints and illegal activities of the Telegram against the country’s national security for the ban.

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According to the statement, swapping images and videos via the service is no longer permitted.

Telecoms officials said that Telegram’s license to site its CDN servers in Iran had been revoked, thereby it should move it servers outside the country.

In the statement, the council stressed that all in-bound traffic must now be routed through Iran’s government-controlled net gateways.

Telegram has yet to confirm that the blocks are in place or whether it has moved its technical infrastructure out of Iran.

Earlier this week, government officials were told to stop using Telegram. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shut down his Telegram channel, saying that this would help “safeguard the national interest.”

On April 19, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, secretary of the taskforce that screens online websites for criminal content, said that foreign messaging applications are required to meet some conditions if they are willing to continue operating in Iran.

“All foreign apps need to acquire permission from Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and they should save and process all data pertaining to Iranian users inside the country, refuse to provide data pertaining to Iranian users to any foreign entities and ensure the users’ privacy and security,” he explained.

The alternatives for Telegram is a number of Iranian messaging applications introduced during recent weeks.

Up to now, five messaging applications have been approved by the National Center for Cyberspace, an organization established by the Supreme Cyberspace Council.

Soroush, Gap, iGap, BisPhone Plus and Wispi are the applications developed by Iranian experts and are supported by the center.

Domestic messaging applications eye officials for further support to help them to convince subscribers to move to another application.

Telegram blocked in its hometown

According to the Reuters, Russia’s state telecommunications regulator blocked access to Telegram messenger after the company refused to comply with an order to give Russian state security access to its users’ secret messages in mid-April.

The watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement on its website that it had sent telecoms operators a notification about blocking access to Telegram inside Russia.

The service, set up by a Russian entrepreneur, has more than 200 million global users and is ranked as the world’s ninth most popular mobile messaging app.
A Roskomnadzor official said it would take several hours to complete the operation to block access, Interfax news agency said.

Telegram has repeatedly refused to comply with requests to give Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) access to its users’ encrypted messages.

The FSB has said it needs such access to guard against security threats such as terrorist attacks. But Telegram said compliance would violate users’ privacy.

Telegram’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, said the ban would damage the quality of lives of 15 million Russians and do nothing to improve Russia’s security.

Durov was a pioneer of social media in Russia but left the country in 2014. He has since been a vocal critic of the Kremlin’s policies on Internet freedom.

Telegram is widely used in countries across the former Soviet Union and Middle East.

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Russia’s telecommunications regulator has asked a Moscow court to order the blocking of messaging application Telegram in the country.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, known in brief as Roskomnadzor, said it had filed a lawsuit against the Telegram free instant messaging application after the corporation failed in due time to provide Russian security services with its secret encryption keys.

Roskomnadzor’s demand for restrictions on the app is the latest move in a dispute between Telegram and the Russian authorities.

Pavel Durov, the Russian founder of the app, which allows its more than 200 million users across the globe to exchange messages, photos, and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people in real time, has long said he will resist attempts by Russian authorities to gain access to the codes.

Russian security agencies are concerned that the encrypted messaging capabilities of Telegram are being used for secure communication between radical elements to plan and execute terrorist activities.

In September 2017, Russia’s principal security agency, the FSB, demanded Telegram to hand over its encryption keys, according to the self-exiled owner of the app, who left Russia in 2014 and is now based in Saint Kitts and Nevis, an island/state located in the West Indies.

Durov wrote last year that the FSB’s demand for secret access to codes of the encrypted app were “technically impossible.”

Last June, the Russian communications regulator threatened to shut down the app for failing to provide registration documents to authorities. Telegram later registered; however, it resisted demands for access to its data storage.

This is while registered companies are required to provide information on user interactions to authorities.

A new anti-terror legislation passed in 2016 also requires Telegram to store all of the data of Russian users inside the country.

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Abolfazl Hassan Beigi said on Wednesday that Telegram team needs to prevent the app from becoming a platform for acts of terror and violence.

Iran blocked access to Telegram after protests across the country turned violent. Authorities say certain countries, including the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia, exploited the messaging app in order to encourage protesters to commit acts of violence.

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As Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi announced on Monday “the restricted access to social networks in Iran amid ongoing protests against the government’s economic and social policies is a temporary measure and rumors about the permanent closure of the social networks do not correspond to the reality.”

The made restrictions, however temporary, has had some ramifications for businesses, in particular small ones, in Iran.

According to Deputy Head of New Businesses Committee of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Afshin Kolahi, there are 10,000 to 15,000 totally virtual businesses in Iran.

While there is not an official data about the number of Telegram channels or virtual business pages, via which domestic entrepreneurs provide services to customers, advertise, do marketing and run their businesses in general, some claim that during the past few days such businesses have been terribly damaged due to the employed intelligent filtering on web and specific social media apps, including Telegram, which is the most popular social networking platform in Iran with 40 million members.

According to unofficial reports, small virtual businesses have suffered major financial damages during the past days and a chorus of dissatisfaction is being run among their owners.

The recent demonstrations began over economic grievances, while a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises are closed or are operating with half of their capacity and 3.1 million of Iranians are still unemployed. The government’s decision on putting controls on the Internet access and messaging apps, under such conditions, has unfortunately exacerbated the economic conditions of virtual Iranian businesses.

President Hassan Rouhani’s government, which underlines the notion of “E-government” and electronic communication, is fully aware of the dominant economic circumstances and the consequences of its made decision on economy and does not seem to be content with the ongoing situations, though.

“One of the main targets of the government has been resolving unemployment and expansion of new businesses as well as reliance on cyberspace,” Azari Jahromi Tweeted on Tuesday morning, “it is my duty to apologize hundred thousands of Iranians who suffered financial losses due to recent unrest. The government is holding talks with Supreme National Security Council to remove the made-up restrictions when peace is restored.”

It seems that the government, facing a dilemma, had to choose between economic benefits and security issues.

President Rouhani, in his first comments about the protests, aired on national television on Sunday night, said “people have the right to criticize”, but said the authorities would not tolerate antisocial behavior. He said criticism was “different from violence and destroying public properties”.

Telegram filtration in Iran was temporarily removed on Tuesday night.

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