The US Can Put People on the Moon. Why Can't It Get Iranians Online?

A prolonged war between the United States and Israel and Iran has produced chaos, confusion, and global economic damage. Iranian people experience the harshest effects, including a nationwide internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime. Limited access to information is compounded by the absence of a flourishing free Iranian press and a small number of foreign correspondents inside the country. Jason Rezaian, formerly Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post, was imprisoned by Iran in 2014 on espionage charges and held for nearly two years before release in a prisoner exchange. He links press freedom and internet access to the possibility of transforming Iran and warns that internet blackouts and information restrictions intensify the regime’s control.

"A prolonged, nationwide internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime is one key reason. So too is the absence of a flourishing and free Iranian press or a robust cohort of foreign correspondents operating within the country. Jason Rezaian would know: In 2014, when he was working as the Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post, Rezaian imprisoned by the Iranian regime and convicted of espionage. He remained in Iranian prison for nearly two years before being released into US custody as part of a prisoner exchange."

"Rezaian, who is now the director of press freedom initiatives at The Washington Post, was generous enough to sit down and talk about all of it-from his personal experience navigating Iran's oppressive government and state-sanctioned media to the distorting impacts of this conflict's meme wars and internet blackouts. This interview has been edited for length and clarity."

"I wanted to better understand where things stand between the US and Iran, and what a possible outcome to this war might look like. But I wanted to understand it from the point of view of someone who's lived in the country and can speak firsthand to the brutal realities of the Iranian regime and the risks this war poses to Iran's 93 million inhabitants."

"Jason Rezaian spent years reporting from Iran before being imprisoned by the regime. He says internet access is key to transforming the country-if only the US government would do something about it."

Read at WIRED