The Islamic Republic is determined to crack down on any dissent on the 31st anniversary of the 1979 revolution:
Iran’s telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.’s email services, saying instead that a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out. It wasn’t clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Google’s email services in Iran.
The Iranian government plans to permanently suspend Google’s email service in the country, it was reported yesterday.
Google said it experienced a sharp drop in email traffic in Iran, and that some users in the country were having trouble accessing Gmail, but said its networks were working properly.
There is currently blood on the streets but we should not assume that the majority of Iranians regard the Ahmadinejad government as illegitimate.
The reality is messy. Bottom line: the worse thing the West can do is bully/bomb/threaten Tehran.