Iran on Wednesday blocked an Internet website the United States was touting as a "virtual embassy," and which senior MPs slammed as an attempt to deceive the Iranian people and divide them from the government. Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, said the new US website was a misguided attempt to make the Iranian people believe Washington wanted to communicate with them. Another influential MP, Hassan Ghafouri-Fard, was quoted by state television as saying the website was set up because "the US wants to create division between Iran's nation and government." He ruled out any formal diplomatic relations being restored with the United States in the near future.
The website offers US policy statements in English and Farsi, gives information on US visas, and provides news from the US-funded Voice of America. Other websites Iran's authorities find objectionable have also long been blocked, including Facebook, non-English Google sites and many foreign media pages.