Reza Taghipour

Reza Taghipour Anvari is an Iranian principlist politician who served as Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second cabinet from 2009 to 2012.

As minister, Taghipour oversaw the Ministry of Communications during one of the most repressive periods for communications freedom in Iran. His ministry cut off mobile phone and SMS services the day before the 2009 presidential election for 40 days, blocked social media networks, and jammed satellite television broadcasts during the Green Movement protests.

The European Union sanctioned Taghipour on 23 March 2012 for his role in excessive censorship, imposing a visa ban and asset freeze. His tenure saw the development of Iran's National Information Network, a state-controlled domestic internet infrastructure designed to enable further filtering of international content.