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Iran says its developing new software to control social networking sites. Source: AFP

IRAN is designing "intelligent software" that would give citizens restricted and controlled access to banned social networking sites.

Iran's police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said ''smart control'' of social networks would ''not only avoid their disadvantages, but will also allow people to benefit from their useful aspects''.

"The designing of intelligent software to control social networking websites" is underway, he said, as cited by the 7Sobh daily.

Facebook, Twitter and many other social websites are blocked by an official filtering mechanism as part of Iran's strict Internet censorship.

But many web users in Iran, where half of the 75-million population is connected to the Internet, have found ways around the blocks through sophisticated software known as VPN despite it being declared illegal in Iran.

Ahmadi Moghadam hinted that the new software would allow Iranians to have limited access to social networks.

"Smart control of social networks is better than filtering them completely," he said, without elaborating.

His comments came after the launch in mid-December of a Facebook page dedicated to the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attracted a great deal of attention at home and abroad.

Authorities regularly warn Iranians against the dangers of social websites, arguing they are part of a Western-backed plot to undermine the Islamic regime.

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Iran to control social media sites