LONDON: Britain launched a website and Facebook page for Iranianson Wednesday, harnessing the power of social media to try to evadeIranian censorship and take its message directly to the people. Britain is at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear energyprogramme, which Tehran says is peaceful but which Britain andother Western powers suspect is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb. Relations between Britain and Iran, always tense, hit new lows lastNovember when Britain closed its embassy in Tehran after it wasstormed by protesters and expelled all Iranian diplomats fromLondon. With the British Broadcasting Corporation, Britain's public servicebroadcaster, complaining of frequent jamming of its services toIran, Britain is seeking new ways to communicate with Iranians. "We are relaunching now our Iran website and social mediapresence for you and for you to use it," Foreign SecretaryWilliam Hague said in a video message on the "UK forIranians" website (ukforiranians.fco.gov.uk/en inEnglish and ukforiranians.fco.gov.uk/fa in Farsi). Britain's Foreign Office says the website as well as new Facebook,Twitter and Google+ accounts will provide information about Britainand its policies towards Iran as well as allowing Iranians to havediscussions and ask questions. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said on Wednesday thebroadcaster had suffered a sophisticated cyber-attack following acampaign by Iranian authorities against its Persian service,although he stopped short of explicitly accusing the Iraniangovernment of being responsible. Thompson also reported attempts to jam satellite feeds of BBCservices into Iran and to swamp its London phone lines withautomated calls. POWER OF INTERNET The power of social media was demonstrated during the Arab Spring.Iran's opposition relied on its websites or mobile phone textmessages to rally its supporters during the large-scale proteststhat followed the disputed 2009 re-election of President MahmoudAhmadinejad. Video footage of the death of a young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, whobecame an international icon for the protests, was watched bythousands on the Internet. But the Foreign Office said the Iranian government had"consistently sought to deny its people freedom of expressionthrough regulation and censorship of the Internet and media". In his video message, in English with Farsi subtitles, Hague saidthere were strong cultural links between Iran and Britain despite"difficult" relations between the two governments. "It's sad therefore that the Iranian authorities make it moredifficult for the people of Iran to find out about and have contactwith the rest of the world," he said. Hague said relations over Iran's nuclear programme were "verydifficult, although we are open to negotiations about that over thecoming months". Six world powers, including Britain, accepted an offer last weekfrom Tehran for fresh talks on its nuclear programme. "We also disagree about what is happening in Syria, wherethousands of people have been murdered and repression and brutalityand torture are commonplace. We disagree with Iran's support forthe regime that is carrying out these acts," Hague said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has deployed his armed forces tocrush a popular uprising that will mark its first anniversary onThursday. In the wake of riots that rocked English cities last year, PrimeMinister David Cameron said authorities were looking at"whether it would be right" to stop people communicatingthrough social media when they were plotting violence. But hisgovernment later backed away from the idea. I am an expert from wire-cabletray.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Cable Tray Accessories , Warehouse Storage Racking Manufacturer, Basket Cable Tray,and more.
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