It wanted to quell the protests and its economy was damaged. These are Iran's losses from cutting off the Internet

Jazeera Net-Tehran

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian lawmaker said the Internet shutdown had dealt a severe blow to the national economy, while Iranian export losses amounted to more than $ 1.5 billion in the first week of the Internet's shutdown.

And on the impact of the continued disconnection of the Internet in some areas of the capital Tehran and other areas of Iran, the statistics of the company "NetPlus" Internet services estimated that the country's losses of these pieces amounted to 369 million dollars a day.

The Iranian National Security Council is responsible for the decision to reinstate Internet service in the country, Iranian Communications Minister Mohammad Javad Azri Jahrami said in his first comment on the Internet shutdown following the government's decision to increase fuel prices.

Mass protests broke out last week in Iran over the government's decision to raise fuel prices by 50 percent to 60 liters per month and 300 percent to those who exceed the monthly state-backed quota.

Affected sectors
According to Iranian state media, the government's decision to cut the Internet over the past week has caused huge losses to cinemas, aviation offices, money exchanges and remittances.

While some Iranian circles have reported that the Internet cutoff has put the oil sector in production problems, a member of the Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Exporters Association, Farzam Kaljain, revealed that cutting the web has made matters worse in the already troubled sector.

Unlike economic sectors that could compensate for the losses, cutting off the Internet has targeted a segment of patients in Iran by blocking imports of medical devices.

The company "Bojan", which is active in the import of medical devices for patients with heart failure and cancer, that cut off the Internet prevented the arrival of import shipments in more than a week, explaining that the decision put the lives of many patients at risk.

Hassan Shahidzadeh, general manager of the Air Quality Monitoring and Evaluation Company in Tehran, said that his colleagues are facing serious problems in their work because they are unable to monitor the global sites and data due to the disruption of the Internet in the country.

Pollution in Tehran has risen over the past few days, without issuing advance notifications, as has been the case in recent years.

Heavy losses
The only way for private exporters to deal with customers outside the country is through the Internet, which has taken a heavy toll on the Iranian economy, according to former head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce Mohsen Jalalpour.

Jalal Bour said that the private sector in Iran has become suffering from significant problems in the transport of goods and export and deal with customers during the past week, stressing that some sectors lost their customers because of not responding to the request of the counterparty because of the disconnection of the Internet.

The Iranian economic activist revealed that the damage to the national economy during the past week is estimated at more than 1.5 billion dollars.

In a related context, the head of the concerns committee in the Tehran Chamber of Commerce Mohammad Reza Najafi Munch that all the activities of trade with outside the country almost stopped by the interruption of the Internet, and warned that the repetition of the phenomenon will negatively affect the country's trade with foreign countries.

Trade and security
He pointed out that the request of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce to lift the problem of cutting the Internet was rejected for reasons of national security, stressing the need to find a solution to the Web of producers and traders to reduce the damage caused to them during the last period.

According to the head of the Iran-Qatar Joint Chamber of Commerce, Adnan Musa Bor, exports are only dealing with the outside world, which was negatively affected by the disconnection of the Internet service after the recent unrest, describing the service as the most important tool for dealing with the world.

Moussa Bour stressed that the financial losses were part of the damage to the Iranian economy recently, and that the loss of customers and distrust of Iranian traders is greater than financial losses.

Under the dome of parliament, reformist MP Mustapha Kawakian warned that the Internet cutdown had dealt a severe blow to the national economy, pointing out that hospitals and the export and import sectors are suffering as a result.

He called for the presence of the heads of the three authorities in parliament to discuss the issue of raising fuel prices and limiting the increase in prices of other goods with the deputies of the legislature.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie admitted that "cutting off the Internet has caused many hardships for many," but added that the decision "is in the interest of national security, which is the greatest concern."

Rubaie added that the decision to cut the Internet by the National Security Council was normal, because some wanted to exploit the demonstrations that followed the rise in fuel prices.