TEHRAN - Leader of the Islamic Revolution has recently ordered the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) to investigate worries over health hazards of satellite jamming waves that are used to block unwanted channels, ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said in an interview with the Etemad newspaper published on Saturday.

Azari Jahromi said recently a group of health practitioners communicated their concerns over jamming waves to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in response ordered the SNSC to investigate the issue.

Some workgroups were then formed within the council to carry out the Leader’s order, Azari Jahromi said.

The minister added that about one month ago devices were installed in five cities, including Tehran and Shiraz, to measure the strength of the waves.

Regarding what organization has authorized the use of jammers, Azari Jahromi said his respective ministry has had no role in it.

“There is no such permit to use jamming. The ICT Ministry has given no permit to no organization in this regard,” he said, adding, “The ICT Ministry has no role or interference in using jammers.”

Concerns over satellite jamming in Iran were given serious voice as early as 2012, when then ICT minister Reza Taghipour called for attention to the “various” and “very bad” biological hazards of the waves.

Despite such statements, however, governments in Iran have more frequently denied the fact that jamming waves negatively impact the human body.

In 2010, then health minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi shunned away from concerns by health practitioners and parliament representatives by saying that the latest findings did not indicate any biohazard from jamming waves.

SP/PA