Iran to help facilitate Google's services in Gulf

Iran said on Sunday that it was ready to cooperate with information technology (IT) companies like Google to facilitate their services in the country and the Persian Gulf region.

Iran's deputy minister of telecommunications and information technology Nasrollah Jahangard said negotiations were underway with Google to establish a version of its servers in Iran, according to a media report.

"This is a normal thing in the world and it will be economical for (IT) companies to be closer to their main clients," Jahangard told Iran's Fars news agency.

He said similar talks were currently being carried out with other major US and European internet companies.

"Iran will of course not interfere in the services of the companies, but we want what they present in the Iranian market to be in line with Iranian laws," the minister said.

Jahangard further emphasised that some non-US enterprises have reached advanced stages in talks to enter the Iranian IT market, adding that their names would be announced once negotiations with them reached the final stages.

Iranian users already have access to Google's services in the country. In June 2009, Google unveiled its Farsi translation service.

Some high ranking Iranian officials have encouraged adoption of domestic search engines and websites for blogging, email and social media.

Some conservative voices have called for the creation of a separate "Halal Internet", which would be free of contents that breach Islamic law.