Microsoft and Yahoo have removed Iran from the country lists of their web mail services, after the US imposed new sanctions on Iran.

"Yahoo continually reviews its business operations to ensure compliance with these restrictions. Consistent with this policy, we cannot accept registrations from countries subject to these restrictions," a Yahoo spokeswoman told The Register.

"So essentially, you can't choose Iran as a country option because we are restricted from conducting business there - all US companies must comply with this policy," she added.

Microsoft, however, declined to comment on the issue.

Google has kept Iran as an option on the Gmail registration page.

Google officials said that the sanctions do not preclude it from including Iran in its Gmail country list.

MHR/RE