As the Iranian authorities attempt to stifle tomorrow's protests surrounding the anniversary of the Iranian revolution, they are going one step further: Iran is permanently suspending access to Google's Gmail.

Earlier this week, we wrote about failing Internet connections in Iran. The timing of these problems has been met with suspicion: February 11 (tomorrow) marks the anniversary of the Iranian revolution and gatherings are already being planned to protest against June's alleged election fraud. From the Wall Street Journal:

"Iranians have reported widespread service disruptions to Internet and text messaging services, though mobile phones appeared to be operating normally Wednesday. Iran's telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.'s email services, saying instead that a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out. It wasn't clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Google's email services in Iran."

We wrote about Iran's censorship monster back in June, and it's clear that the Iranian authorities have no intention of loosening their grip.

Twitter was famously a catalyst for communication during the Iranian elections and post-election protests, and Iranian citizens have often relied on networks set up by westerners to send information.

While this isn't a completely unique move — the Iranian government did suspend access to Facebook in the lead-up to May's election — an all-out block on a communication service and the attempt to move citizens to a state-run service is another story.

Even when compared to the Great Firewall of China, this is disturbing and infuriating.

The Wall Street Journal also reports that satellite dishes from residential rooftops have been confiscated, as well as mobile phones from some opposition members.