Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology is to set up a working group to consider a decision on unblocking Facebook and Twitter.

The ministry posted the announcement on its website on October 8.

Information Minister Mahmud Vaezi was initially quoted on October 7 as saying Iran does not plan to unblock the popular social-networking sites.

In a statement on the ministry’s website a few hours later, however, Vaezi denied making such comments and said the issue was still under study.

The office of Iranian President Hassan Rohani uses Twitter, while Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has both a Twitter microblog and a Facebook page.

There are also Twitter and Facebook pages in the name of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that appear to be genuine, although Khamenei himself does not tweet.

Many Iranians use proxies to access the sites.

with reporting by AP, RFE/RL