Newly public plan reveals conditions for unblocking YouTube and Telegram in Iran
A disclosed 32-point plan tied foreign platform access in Iran to domestic app support and tighter controls. Reopening has stalled; WhatsApp is blocked again.
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Iran has made public a previously confidential 32-point plan that tied the reopening of foreign platforms to support for domestic services, new legislation and tighter controls on tools used to bypass internet restrictions.
The Supreme Council of Cyberspace's secretary announced the document's declassification on October 13. The four-stage roadmap envisaged restoring access to WhatsApp, Google Play, YouTube, Telegram and other foreign platforms. But the reopening process has stalled following two wars and unrest in late December 2025 and January 2026, and WhatsApp is blocked again after a period of restored access.
The resolution, titled “Facilitating access to foreign platforms and advancing lawful governance,” shows that reopening services was part of a wider package of economic, legal and security measures. These included strengthening domestic platforms, developing the National Information Network, Iran's domestic network infrastructure, and intensifying efforts against circumvention tools such as VPNs.
The council approved the resolution on December 24, 2024, and amendments on February 11, 2025. Until its release, the full text had remained confidential, with only parts reaching the media. Its stated objective was to meet people's “legitimate and lawful” needs for content and services while strengthening what it called lawful governance.
Four stages, with conditions on foreign access
The first stage called for unblocking Google Play and WhatsApp. Alongside that step, the Communications Ministry was to provide infrastructure for selected domestic content platforms, and state broadcaster IRIB was to offer them an advertising support package worth 500 billion tomans. The stage also included issuing policies on network traffic pricing and sharing content revenue.
The second stage called for reopening YouTube under “lawful governance” and beginning partnerships and negotiations with foreign platforms, particularly new ones. The YouTube entry in the action table names neither a lead agency nor a supporting agency.
Telegram was assigned to the third stage. The Communications Ministry was to negotiate with the service, with reopening conditional on its acceptance of terms set by a steering group. If negotiations failed, the document provided another route: reopening Telegram under “lawful governance.” That entry does not specify the mechanism or responsible agency.
The fourth stage envisaged reopening other foreign platforms after negotiations and acceptance of the steering group's conditions. It does not name those services.
Exclusive services for domestic apps
A substantial part of the plan concerned benefits for domestic platforms. Electronic prescriptions, bank transaction notifications and communications between public agencies and the people using their services were to be offered exclusively through selected domestic messaging apps.
The next stage would extend that arrangement to services related to subsidies, fuel cards, police and the judiciary. Public agencies would also be barred from officially using foreign platforms, subject to exceptions, and required to maintain a presence on domestic ones.
The Communications Ministry was instructed to change operators' business models to reduce revenue from foreign traffic relative to domestic traffic. It was also to give domestic content platforms technical advantages in speed, stability and user experience. The plan called for investment in content and service platforms in areas without strong domestic alternatives.
New laws and stronger action against VPNs
The roadmap connected reopening to a series of legislative measures. These included cabinet approval of a bill against false news and seeking expedited parliamentary consideration, as well as drafting laws on platform liability and intellectual property.
Its fourth stage called for a bill criminalizing the supply and sale of what it described as “governance-evading tools,” alongside greater capacity to counter circumvention tools. It also called for preventing tax evasion on income earned through foreign platforms and tougher enforcement against crimes and violations on unauthorized foreign services.
These were measures set out in the roadmap, rather than evidence that the proposed laws had been enacted. The package would have expanded access under specified conditions while also strengthening the authorities' means of restricting it.
A steering group with power to reverse course
The head of the National Cyberspace Center was to chair the steering group, with the communications minister serving as its secretary. Its members included representatives of the parliamentary speaker and judiciary chief, the intelligence minister, a Revolutionary Guard representative, the prosecutor general and two individual council members.
The group was responsible for approving operational plans and schedules, checking that each stage had been fully completed before authorizing the next, and setting negotiation procedures and approving agreements with foreign platforms.
It could also order a return to earlier stages or measures if it found violations, shortcomings or failures in execution. The released text does not establish whether that power was used to halt the reopening process or block WhatsApp again, or whether those decisions came through another mechanism.
The interruption to reopening does not establish that every infrastructure, legal or support measure in the resolution has also stopped. The outlook for restoring access to foreign platforms remains unclear.
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