GitHub has been granted a license to operate in Iran, giving Iranian developers access to a valuable resource.

US sanctions against Iran have far-reaching consequences, including on many aspects of the tech industry. GitHub was one of those impacted, with sanctions preventing the company from offering its tools in Iran.

GitHub announced today that has now secured a license from the US government, paving the way for it to offer the full range of its services — both free and paid — in Iran.

First, even as we complied with sanctions, we went to great lengths to keep as much of GitHub available to as many developers as possible under US sanctions laws, making public repos available even in sanctioned countries.

And separately, we took our case to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the US Treasury Department, and began a lengthy and intensive process of advocating for broad and open access to GitHub in sanctioned countries.

Over the course of two years, we were able to demonstrate how developer use of GitHub advances human progress, international communication, and the enduring US foreign policy of promoting free speech and the free flow of information. We are grateful to OFAC for the engagement which has led to this great result for developers.

This is good news for GitHub and Iranian developers.