CIA Director: The scale and pervasiveness of the protests in Iran surprised us

William Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), emphasized the US government's determination to provide Iranians with access to the Internet amid nationwide protests.

In an interview with CBS News, Mr. Burns stated that the United States is committed to supporting the "free flow of information."

Asked whether the ongoing protests in Iran were "limited and scattered events or the beginning of a revolution," he said: "I don't think these are scattered demonstrations. What surprised me and our analysts here (the CIA) was the breadth and ubiquity of the demonstrations."

The CIA director emphasized: "They are incredibly brave people, incredibly brave young women who are fed up in many ways. They are willing to take the risk of being in the demonstrations because they are fed up with economic decline, corruption, and social restrictions - particularly restrictions imposed on Iranian women in the Islamic Republic - as well as political repression."

Mr. Burns stated: "We are facing a tyrannical government that is skilled at suppressing people, and you know they are now quite ruthless."

Referring to the Iranian government's action to cut off people's access to the internet amid protests and the possibility of providing Starlink internet satellites to Iranians, the CBS anchor asked the CIA director whether the US government would help bring Starlink terminals inside.

William Burns responded: "The United States government has clearly stated that it supports and is committed to the free flow of information and Internet freedom."

At the same time as protests were being held over the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Ershad patrol, and the internet was being cut off and slowed down in the cities where the protests were taking place, a group of representatives from both Republican and Democratic parties in the US Congress wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury asking him to immediately agree to the request if he receives a request from Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, to provide Starlink satellite internet to Iran.

Following this request, the US Treasury Department announced on October 1 that it had issued a permit to expand internet services for Iranians.

But last week, Elon Musk said that for Iranian users to use Starlink satellite internet, special terminals must be deployed inside the country.

William Burns said in an interview with CBS News that he would not go into details.

In this context, yesterday Google activated its new tool to bypass filtering in Iran.

Upon entering the Google homepage in Persian, a text appears about how to use the Outline tool to create a secure "VPN" for users.

Google had previously announced that it would provide its tools to bypass filtering in Iran following new licenses from the US Treasury.

Following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl from Saqqez, while being detained by the Ershad patrol, many cities in Iran have witnessed protest demonstrations for more than two weeks. Despite the severe repression of the protesters during this period, the security atmosphere in many parts of the country remains tense.

Source: Radio Farda