Iran’s telecommunications minister said his country will legally sue a
recent decision by Apple for removing Iranian apps from its App Store,
Tehran Times daily reported on Friday. Apple holds 11 percent share of
the Iranian cellphone market, however, it has not observed the Iranian
consumer rights, Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi was quoted as saying. "We
will legally sue (the issue of) removing of the apps,” Azari-Jahromi
said.
Pursuant to the US sanctions, Apple has no official presence in Iran.
Millions of Iranians use iPhones smuggled in from different countries
and thousands of apps have been created for Iranians in App Store. On
Thursday, Apple removed Snapp, a ride-hailing app similar to Uber that
is popular in Iran, from its app stores. That followed by the removal in
recent weeks of apps for food delivery, shopping and other services.
In a message to Iranian developers whose apps were affected by the
ban, Apple said, "Under the US sanctions regulations, the App Store
cannot host, distribute or do business with apps or developers connected
to certain US embargoed countries.” In January, Apple pulled a number
of Iran-based iOS apps from the App Store, including online e-commerce
service Digikala, citing noncompliance with Iranian Transactions
Sanctions Regulations. "Since Apple takes a cut of all App Store
purchases, sales from Iranian apps generate revenue and are thus in
violation of US law,” Apple said.
