![A man uses his smartphone to follow election news in Tehran, Iran May 17, 2017. REUTERS/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. - RC18C545D440](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2018/05/RTX36879.jpg/RTX36879.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=NTVqlEKi)
Holly Dagres is an Iranian-American analyst and commentator on Middle East affairs. Currently living in Egypt, she is the assistant editor at the Cairo Review of Global Affairs. On Twitter: @hdagres
![A man uses his smartphone to follow election news in Tehran, Iran May 17, 2017. REUTERS/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. - RC18C545D440](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2018/05/RTX36879.jpg/RTX36879.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=NTVqlEKi)
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![Customers use computers at an internet cafe in Tehran May 9, 2011. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and countless others were banned shortly after the re-election of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the huge street protests that followed. Seen by the government as part of a "soft war" waged by the enemies of the Islamic Republic, social networking and picture sharing sites were a vital communication tool for the anti-Ahmadinejad opposition -- more than a year before they played a similar rol](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2017/11-1/RTR2MB5Q.jpg/RTR2MB5Q.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=m-f0N86y)
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![Iranian youth use their mobile phones as they rest at a park in Tehran, Iran, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. - RC1A55C54480](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2017/09/RTX3636S.jpg/RTX3636S.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=0yX1FCl5)
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![irancoupleboston21.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2017/02/irancoupleboston21.jpg/irancoupleboston21.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=0zxkyNSp)
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![1979.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/06/1979.jpg/1979.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=VzGZwVM_)
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