Iran To Give E-Mail Addresses To Citizens

About half of Iran's population of 75 million are Internet users.

Iran's minister of communications says citizens of the country who desire to use e-mail will have accounts given to them by the government.

Mohammad Hassan Nami did not say on July 8 whether the national e-mail addresses would be mandatory, but his announcement comes one day after Iranian state television reported the country now has its own domestic e-mail service.

The state television report said each Iranian would be assigned an e-mail address using the Mail.post.ir domain.

It was not immediately clear if this meant introducing greater restrictions on Internet use.

Nami said the national system would aid interaction between the state and the people.

About half of Iran's population, 32 million out of 75 million, are Internet users.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP