By AFPMore by this AuthorWashington,The US Treasury slapped punitive sanctions on Iran's communications minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Friday after the Tehran regime blocked internet communications amid violent protests triggered by a petrol price hike. "Iran's leaders know that a free and open internet exposes their illegitimacy, so they seek to censor internet access to quell anti-regime protests," Mnuchin said. The Treasury said Azari Jahomi is a former official of the Ministry of Intelligence who has advanced internet censorship since becoming minister two years ago. On Thursday, President Donald Trump accused Iran of blocking the internet to cover up "death and tragedy" resulting from the protests. "Iran has become so unstable that the regime has shut down their entire Internet System so that the Great Iranian people cannot talk about the tremendous violence taking place within the country," Trump tweeted.

Source: Daily Nation November 22, 2019 17:37 UTC