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Iran has been rolling out the National Information Network (essentially a whitelisted internet) for a couple years now after the Green Revolution [0]. Iran has

Iran has been rolling out the National Information Network (essentially a whitelisted internet) for a couple years now after the Green Revolution [0]. Iran has a surprisingly robust domestic ecosystem of hyperscalers [1] and telco infra [6][7] built out over the past decade with limited outside involvement and a severe sanctions regime, and have even started exporting Iranian IT services to Uganda [2], Kenya [3], South Africa [4], Venezuela [5], Russia [9], and China [9] My understanding is that during the current 5 year plan in Iran, they are trying to fully transition the Iranian internet to the NIN, as all ".ir" domains are supposed to be hosted on the NIN. If someone wants to find a techno-authoritarian state I'd say Iran is probably closer to that vision than most other countries, as a large portion of their leadership are Western-educated (Stanford, MIT, UPMC/Paris VI, Supélec, UNSW, etc) Computer Engineers and Computer Scientists by training (eg. Iran's VP did his PhD under Thomas Cover at Stanford [8] and Rouhani's Chief of Staff studied EE@SJSU). Even Iran's NSC and former IRGC head (who's daughter is a surgeon at Emory - so much for marg bar amreeka) was a CS major turned Kantian philosophy PhD. [0] - https://citizenlab.ca/irans-national-information-network/ https://citizenlab.ca/irans-national-information-network/ [1] - https://www.arvancloud.ir/fa https://www.arvancloud.ir/fa [2] - https://tvbrics.com/en/news/uganda-and-iran-to-boost-ict-co-operation/ https://tvbrics.com/en/news/uganda-and-iran-to-boost-ict-co-... [3] - https://mail.techreviewafrica.com/public/news/1361/kenya-and-iran-discuss-ict-cooperation https://mail.techreviewafrica.com/public/news/1361/kenya-and... [4] - https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=64545 https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=64545 [5] - https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/06/752585/Iranian-fiber-optic-factory-in-Venezuela-begins-operations--ICT-Minister https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/06/752585/Iranian-fibe... [6] - https://zmc.co.ir/ https://zmc.co.ir/ [7] - https://www.rayafiber.com/en/home https://www.rayafiber.com/en/home [8] - https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1011657 https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1011657 [9] - https://www.kharon.com/brief/iran-sanctions-maximum-pressure-tech-exports https://www.kharon.com/brief/iran-sanctions-maximum-pressure...

jimbohn 10mo ago
Kinda envious of them that, due to sanctions, they end up with hyperscalers. Europe will never get hyperscales while being too tight with the US, and any protectionism at the service industry level would make the US go more mental than it already is.
- alephnerd 10mo ago
  It's not only because of sanctions. It's primarily because their leadership have deeply technical backgrounds. Most of my peers who ended up in policymaking roles in Europe (and in some cases the levers of power) all had a humanities or legal background and never worked in or adjacent to the tech industry. Assuming Iran didn't follow the path that it did, Iran would have also ended up becoming a tech hub like Israel became today. But this recognition should not be used to glaze a regime that has officially admitted to killing at least 5,000 protestors [0] in just 2 weeks and in reality killed significantly more people than that. Being adept at understanding the applications of technology doesn't make one a humanist. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-official-says-verified-deaths-iran-protests-reaches-least-5000-2026-01-18/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-offic...
  - jimbohn 10mo ago
    Agree with you on pretty much everything you have said. The background of policymakers in Europe really annoys me. Just to be clear, I wasn't glazing Iran or anything.
    - larodi 10mo ago
      The background of most everyone in Brussels seems so wrong for the technological realities nowadays. I believe this sentiment is shared by a lot of people, and now it unfolds in Europe plainly lacking behind in technology. Which is such a shame given history of discoveries and advancement that was going on on the continent for centuries.
      - jimbohn 10mo ago
        The whole European political elite and ruling class feels like a quasi-aristocracy (something the US is slowly moving into as well, with political dynasties and such) that is used to go to some big-name art/humanities place and then slide into the bureaucracy ladder. Totally detached people, and it's a pity because we really need Europe to be better.
Symbiote 10mo ago
> Iran has a surprisingly robust domestic ecosystem of hyperscalers [1] This is already repeated by the Google Search AI summary, which is unfortunate since your reference (from 2012) doesn't seem to back it up.
- alephnerd 10mo ago
  Much of this capacity only started getting built out after 2012. Heck, Arvaan Cloud was only founded in 2015 and operated under the radar hidden from the sanctions regime until 2020.
culi 10mo ago
That first link you shared is fascinating. This group also published this incredible report on an AI-enabled influence operation aimed at toppling Iran https://citizenlab.ca/research/2025-10-ai-enabled-io-aimed-at-overthrowing-iranian-regime/ https://citizenlab.ca/research/2025-10-ai-enabled-io-aimed-a...
ifwinterco 10mo ago
This is the issue for any US/western regime change operation in Iran (whatever one may think of its moral merits or lack thereof). Iran is not Syria, there's a lot of wily people in the leadership and they won't be rolled over so easily
- viking123 10mo ago
  Yeah, wonder why Trump doesn't threaten North Korea? Because they actually have achieved all this, internal internet completely sealed, nuclear weapons and developing ballistic missiles to reach the USA. So actually.. getting the nukes was the right play for them because eventually they would get sold out by China or Russia. Having nukes gets you to shake hands and send love letters to Trump. Frankly Trump sees Europeans as total cucks and has more respect for Kim Jong-un If Iran actually had nukes, the Israeli lead bullying would immediately halt.
  - pjc50 10mo ago
    Everyone seems to have forgotten the independent French nuclear deterrent. I should probably put an outside bet on the next country to get the Bomb being Poland, maybe by 2050. They've only just started building a civilian reactor, but weapons would make strategic sense for them.
    - viking123 10mo ago
      I remember back when Poland was joining NATO, they basically said that we want in NATO or we will build our own nuke. Not sure if Trump understands that he is playing quite a dangerous game in terms of nuclear proliferation because if the US deterrent goes away, the small countries will start thinking about it.
      - galangalalgol 10mo ago
        Good analysis out there indicating sweden could beat Poland there. Finland and Germany also on the likely list. Then in the east Japan and sk. The npt is dead. The French government being completely gridlocked with a nonzero chance to go authoritarian itself, along with the us stepping away guarantee this.

jimbohn 10mo ago

Kinda envious of them that, due to sanctions, they end up with hyperscalers. Europe will never get hyperscales while being too tight with the US, and any protectionism at the service industry level would make the US go more mental than it already is.

alephnerd 10mo ago
It's not only because of sanctions. It's primarily because their leadership have deeply technical backgrounds. Most of my peers who ended up in policymaking roles in Europe (and in some cases the levers of power) all had a humanities or legal background and never worked in or adjacent to the tech industry. Assuming Iran didn't follow the path that it did, Iran would have also ended up becoming a tech hub like Israel became today. But this recognition should not be used to glaze a regime that has officially admitted to killing at least 5,000 protestors [0] in just 2 weeks and in reality killed significantly more people than that. Being adept at understanding the applications of technology doesn't make one a humanist. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-official-says-verified-deaths-iran-protests-reaches-least-5000-2026-01-18/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-offic...
- jimbohn 10mo ago
  Agree with you on pretty much everything you have said. The background of policymakers in Europe really annoys me. Just to be clear, I wasn't glazing Iran or anything.
  - larodi 10mo ago
    The background of most everyone in Brussels seems so wrong for the technological realities nowadays. I believe this sentiment is shared by a lot of people, and now it unfolds in Europe plainly lacking behind in technology. Which is such a shame given history of discoveries and advancement that was going on on the continent for centuries.
    - jimbohn 10mo ago
      The whole European political elite and ruling class feels like a quasi-aristocracy (something the US is slowly moving into as well, with political dynasties and such) that is used to go to some big-name art/humanities place and then slide into the bureaucracy ladder. Totally detached people, and it's a pity because we really need Europe to be better.

Symbiote 10mo ago

> Iran has a surprisingly robust domestic ecosystem of hyperscalers [1] This is already repeated by the Google Search AI summary, which is unfortunate since your reference (from 2012) doesn't seem to back it up.

alephnerd 10mo ago
Much of this capacity only started getting built out after 2012. Heck, Arvaan Cloud was only founded in 2015 and operated under the radar hidden from the sanctions regime until 2020.

culi 10mo ago

That first link you shared is fascinating. This group also published this incredible report on an AI-enabled influence operation aimed at toppling Iran https://citizenlab.ca/research/2025-10-ai-enabled-io-aimed-at-overthrowing-iranian-regime/ https://citizenlab.ca/research/2025-10-ai-enabled-io-aimed-a...

ifwinterco 10mo ago

This is the issue for any US/western regime change operation in Iran (whatever one may think of its moral merits or lack thereof). Iran is not Syria, there's a lot of wily people in the leadership and they won't be rolled over so easily

viking123 10mo ago
Yeah, wonder why Trump doesn't threaten North Korea? Because they actually have achieved all this, internal internet completely sealed, nuclear weapons and developing ballistic missiles to reach the USA. So actually.. getting the nukes was the right play for them because eventually they would get sold out by China or Russia. Having nukes gets you to shake hands and send love letters to Trump. Frankly Trump sees Europeans as total cucks and has more respect for Kim Jong-un If Iran actually had nukes, the Israeli lead bullying would immediately halt.
- pjc50 10mo ago
  Everyone seems to have forgotten the independent French nuclear deterrent. I should probably put an outside bet on the next country to get the Bomb being Poland, maybe by 2050. They've only just started building a civilian reactor, but weapons would make strategic sense for them.
  - viking123 10mo ago
    I remember back when Poland was joining NATO, they basically said that we want in NATO or we will build our own nuke. Not sure if Trump understands that he is playing quite a dangerous game in terms of nuclear proliferation because if the US deterrent goes away, the small countries will start thinking about it.
    - galangalalgol 10mo ago
      Good analysis out there indicating sweden could beat Poland there. Finland and Germany also on the likely list. Then in the east Japan and sk. The npt is dead. The French government being completely gridlocked with a nonzero chance to go authoritarian itself, along with the us stepping away guarantee this.