Iran launches smartphone app for leader Khamenei speeches

Iran has launched a smartphone app for all the speeches made by its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the past quarter of a century, his website announced Sunday.

Khamenei.ir is available for mobile devices powered by Android or Apple's operating system, initially only in Farsi, the website said.

Browsers will be able to access speeches made by Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader since 1989, as well as his messages and pictures.

The speeches have been classified by year and users can type in key words to find specific content.

Iran has 40 million Internet users, including government leaders using the web for official communications, from a population of almost 78 million.

But authorities frequently block access to popular websites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to stop Iranians from surfing content seen as immoral or undermining the Islamic regime.

In 2011, Iran set up a special police unit to combat cyber-crime, particularly on social networking sites popular with the opposition and dissidents.