President Masoud Pezeshkian's reformist government has taken its first steps to ease internet restrictions for the country's people after a ban was enforced in 2022 following mass protests against the then government over the death of a woman who did not follow the strict dress code.

Despite this, many Iranians dodged the ban by using proxies and VPNs to access the Meta-, and Google-owned services, as well as X, Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and Instagram.

Sattar Hashemi, Iran’s minister of telecommunications, wrote on the social media platform X on December 24: "Today, we took the first step towards lifting internet restrictions by demonstrating unity.

"This path will continue.”

The move comes as President Pezeshkian – who won the election in July – campaigned on promises to improve economic and social conditions.

A particular focus of the 70-year-old politician is to ease restrictions on women’s dress and lift internet censorship.

He has also put back many university students and teachers – who were banned from studying or teaching – back into education.

According to the Financial Times, Ali Sharifi Zarchi, a pro-reform university professor who returned to teaching, believes it is “a first step” that is “positive and hopeful”.

However, the publication quoted him as adding: “It should not remain limited to these two platforms.”