Yandex to Arrive Soon

A deal between Iran and the Russian search engine Yandex is on the agenda, the Russian ambassador in Tehran announced.

Levan Jagarian also said that the deal will be finalized during the visit of Russian Deputy Minister of Telecoms and Mass Communications Dmitry Alkhazov to Iran in December, Tasnim News Agency reported.

    Last October, Russian and Iranian communications ministers Nikolay Nikiforov and Mahmoud Vaezi respectively signed a deal to expand bilateral technological collaborations.

    During the meeting, Vaezi was quoted as saying by the Russian media, “We are familiar with the powerful Russian search engine Yandex. We agreed that Yandex would open an office in Iran. The system will be adapted for the Iranian people and will be in Persian.”

    According to Russia Today, Vaezi said 13-14 million Iranian users could begin to use the Russian system.

    Russia is ready to “open for Iran modern information and communication technologies, including those intended for programs and needs of the Islamic Republic”, the Russian minister said.

    However, local media reports say websites like Yandex.com and Yandex.com.tr are currently blocked inside Iran.

Sobhane Online reported on Tuesday that both versions of the foreign search engine are not accessible within Iran. Yandex.ru, however, is domestically accessible.

    Looking at Yandex.ir, an official reportedly working for IRIB purchased the website, according to a domain registration search.  DomainTools, a portal that lists the owners of websites, says Mohammad Taqi Mozouni registered the domain address back in July.