Speaking on a local Radio program in his hometown Boroujerd in central Iran, Alaeddin Boroujerdi said the decision to replace the popular messaging app with an Iranian alternative has been made at the highest levels of the government.
Boroujerdi noted that given the destructive role Telegram played in the last year's riots in Iranian cities, the decision is made for the sake of the country’s national security, adding that Iran has today made a lot of progress in cyberspace and has been able to produce alternative national apps such as ‘Soroush.’
Despite the fact that Telegram is highly popular among Iranians as it has more than 40 million Iranian subscribers, Chairman of Iran’s Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission hoped that the Iranian application will soon replace the foreign product when the latter is blocked.
He further added that more needs to be done in order for the Iranian apps to be able to compete with their foreign rivals.
Boroujerdi concluded that the Iranian app will start operation at the end of current Iranian month ending on April 20.
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