Google makes software available for first time in Iran

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. said it’s making its software available in Iran for the first time, in a move the company said is aimed at expanding individual freedoms in the Persian Gulf nation.

In a posting last week on a company website, Google export compliance programs manager Neil Martin wrote that the company is making its Google Earth satellite imagery software, Picasa photo-editing tool and Chrome Internet browser available for download in Iran.

“We believe that more available products means more choice, more freedom, and ultimately more power for individuals in Iran and across the globe,” Martin wrote.

Google said it’s now able to offer its software in Iran, following the lifting of some U.S. export restrictions.

The U.S. and Iran have an uneasy relationship. In public remarks made Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that the U.S. is in some ways not satisfied with support it has received from China in terms of enforcing nuclear sanctions against Iran, which is widely expected to produce a nuclear weapon in the coming years.

Meir Dagan, the departing head of Israel’s intelligence agency, said recently that Iran would not be able to produce a weapon before 2015, only due to unspecified “measures” taken against the country’s development efforts.

In his post, Google’s Martin wrote that following Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009, traditional media outlets and cell phone communications were shut down — while communication over the Internet “prevailed.”

“Our products are specifically designed to help people create, communicate, share opinions and find information,” Martin wrote. He noted that as a condition of Google’s export licenses from the Treasury Department, the company will block IP addresses “associated with the Iranian government.”