Apple’s continued exclusion of Iranian phone numbers (+98) represents a policy of corporate over-compliance that contradicts the explicit authorizations within US Treasury General License D-2.
According to Paragraph (a)(1) of the license, the exportation of "fee-based or no-cost services" is authorized, specifically including "user authentication services" and "cloud-based services". There is no legal impediment under OFAC regulations preventing Apple from facilitating SMS 2FA or iCloud access for Iranian users.
Currently, the necessity of using proxies and VPNs to bypass censorship frequently triggers Apple ID security protocols. Without support for +98 numbers for identity verification, users face permanent account lockouts despite having legal clearance to access these services.
We formally urge @tim_cook, @gregjoz, and @cue to align Apple’s compliance policy with the text of General License D-2 and reinstate service availability for Iranian citizens.
cc: @AppleSupport@MacRumors@9to5mac@verge@TechCrunch@9to5mac@MKBHD@ijustine@theapplehub
هر بار میخواستم یه کار مالی تو ایران انجام بدم، کاسه چه کنم دستم بود. چک میکردم هفته پیش از دوستم خواستم یه پرداختی رو هماهنگ کنه،حالا صبر کنم ماه دیگه دوباره برم سراغش. با این سیستم پرداخت مستقیم باماجان از هر کارت بانکی خارج از کشور، انگار یه بار سنگین از رو دوشم برداشته شد.