Iran's Supreme Leader Sets Up Internet-Control Group

People surf the Internet at a cybercafe in central Tehran. Iran routinely blocks websites deemed immoral or threatening to national security.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the creation of an Internet oversight agency that includes top official figures.

A post on Khamenei's Twitter account said on March 7 that he had signed an executive order establishing the Cyberspace Council and appointed the president as its chair.

Iranian media reported that the new council includes powerful figures in the security establishment such as the intelligence minister and the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran already has a cybercrimes task force, set up in 2009.

The country has one of the world's toughest Internet-censorship regimes, routinely blocking websites deemed immoral or threatening to the country's national security.

With AP reporting