At a meeting with Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Culture Minister Ali Jannati warned that the government’s initial rejection of new technologies and later acceptance was causing the country to fall behind. At the informal breakfast meeting, Jannati also criticized the blocking of popular social media websites, jamming satellite stations and the lack of tolerance of officials toward opposing views.

“In social media and the virtual world, we still do not know if we are supposed to block Viber and WhatsApp or not,” said Jannati, referring to a quarrel between the administration and the judiciary, which ordered that the websites be blocked.

Jannati said, “There was a time we had problems with video. There was even a time we had issue with the fax machine. When I was governor of Khorasan, [Mohammad] Gharazi was the communications minister. During that time they sent a fax machine for the ministers and governors. And they sent a confidential letter along with it that said, 'This fax machine should only be in your room, and only you should have access to this.'”

Most of the top officials in Iran have official or semiofficial social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram. Since these websites are blocked, Iranian users must access them through proxies.