Iran blocks virtual private network access to Gmail, Yahoo

Iran has reportedly blocked many foreign-based virtual private networks, or VPNs, severely restricting access to many websites.

The VPNs are illegal in Iran, but offered a way to freely use the Internet, and popular sites like Facebook.

According to a report by the independent Donya-e Eghtesad daily, lawmaker Ramazan Ali Sobhani said that his parliamentary committee in charge of communications would review the results of the block on VPNs, which went into effect last Wednesday.

Sobhani said that the block restricted access to some international email services such as Gmail and Yahoo in some parts of the country, Fox News reports.

The report pointed out that since the street unrest that followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election, Iran has tightened restrictions on VPN use and occasionally blocked them.