Every week we’ll be bringing you the highlights of Iran’s tech scene in the past week. This week, we covered Iran and WIPO increasing cooperation, Trump’s conflict with the Congress over ZTE and Iran banning business activities on Telegram.

Iran’s Cooperation with WIPO to Increase

According to ISNA, the Vice President for Science and Technology, Sorena Sattari, had a meeting with the Director General of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), Francis Gurry, in which further cooperation with Iran was emphasized.

In this meeting, Sattari pointed out to the country’s efforts and movements towards a knowledge-based economy by relying on the creativity and the power of many young and educated Iranians. He also mentioned supporting and developing a multitude of startups in the country by the government in the recent years.

Francis Gurry also praised Iran’s performance in the startup’s field and stated that the GII’s (Global Indicator of Innovation) rating index does not show Iran’s capabilities nor the reality. At the end of the meeting it was appointed that with the help of WIPO, intellectual property related workshops to take place in Iran for countries in the region.

Trump to Reduce ZTE Sanctions; Congress Disapproves

The United-State’s Congress announced its disapproval of Trump’s decision on reducing the limitations that his government previously brought upon the Chinese telecom Company, ZTE. President Trump recently defended his stance against the Congress saying that reducing these sanctions is a part of a much bigger deal between the U.S. and China. 

According to Tasnim, two reliable sources say that the deal which Trump is mentioning is that China will remove the new tariffs on U.S. agricultural products if Trump reduces ZTE sanctions.

Previously the U.S. punished the Chinese company for selling its products to countries such as Iran and North-Korea by banning any exports of American companies to ZTE for 7 years.

Related: ZTE Pleaded Guilty and Agreed to Pay up to $1.2B in Fines for Trading With Iran

Iran Banning Any Business Activity on Telegram

Also this week the Deputy Attorney General of Iran, Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, announced that any business activity on Telegram is banned and that these activities should be migrated to local social media apps.

This decision was made during a sitting last week where representatives of the National Center of Cyber Space, Business and Trading Center of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, e-commerce Development Centre of Iran, Chambers of Commerce of Iran, Police of Iran (NAJA) and the Union of Cyberspace Businesses were gathered to discuss implementing a directive which banned business activities on non-Iranian social media apps. For the full report, you can read the article below.

Iran’s Deputy Attorney General: Business Activity on Telegram Is a Crime