Iran Restores Access To Gmail After Blocking Google Services

Iran Restores Access To Gmail After Blocking Google Services
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Iran has restored widespread access to Gmail after it cut its ties to Google in the wake of a controversial anti-Islamic video appearing on YouTube.

Iranian authorities insist the video sharing site will not be accessible in Iran after the "Innocence of Muslims" film caused widespread offence and violence across the Muslim world.

Gmail was reported to be down across Iran on 24 September, but now it appears access has been restored.

Users in Tehran and elsewhere reported being able to read their email after delays of several days.

The BBC reported that Iran's telecommunications ministry committee said it was unable to block YouTube without also turning off Gmail.

But now it appears that while YouTube is down, Gmail is back.

"We do not yet have enough technical know-how to differentiate between these two services," Mohammad Reza Miri said, according to the BBC.

"We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible. That is why the telecommunications ministry is seeking a solution to fix the problem to block YouTube under the HTTPS [Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure] protocol while leaving Gmail accessible. That will soon happen."

At the time of the initial ban an official had said that "Google and Gmail will be filtered throughout the country until further notice".

Iran has previously blocked Google services temporarily. In February many users in Tehran reported outages lasting about four days before service was restored.

YouTube has also been effectively censored in Iran since 2009, according to web traffic stats.