Iran this week launched a government-sanctioned video-sharing web service as an alternative to Google's YouTube, which the Islamic regime considers inappropriate and has banned since 2009.

Despite the official ban, many Iranians still access YouTube using Virtual Private Networks. Iran has also blocked local access to Facebook and Twitter.

The new Farsi-language sevice, called Mehr (meaning "affection") will also compete with an already existing video sharing service Aparat, which is run by the Iranian company that operates Iran's popular social network site Cloob.

While online video sharing sites are popular in Iran, the slow internet connection experienced by most Iranians limits the experience.

The creation of the video-sharing service is the first part of Iran's plan to sever itself from the global Internet network and create its own national intranet, or "clean internet", as soon as the coming August.

Iran's Information Ministry earlier this year released a "Request for Information", geared at fetching outside aid for the creation of a more regulated and restricted web.

According to a report in the ArsTechnica website, a Persian-language document targeted firms, groups, and universities with knowledge in the area of "cleansing or purifying" the Internet.

"Currently the matter of Internet cleanup is being done via filtering at the Internet gateways of our country, which has had its own set of problems," the document said of the plan for a national intranet, according to ArsTechnica.

"The document appears to be the latest step in what Iranian government officials have previously called the "halal Internet," it added. The government has not yet explained precisely what they mean, nor what its technical capabilities are, nor when it would launch.

The Iranian Information Minister has denied reports that it was seeking to disconnect from the World Wide Web, saying the the intention is to create two separate networks – one connected to the international web, and another solely internal web.

Iran and other totalitarian regimes have in the past used the services of foreign firms to block, censure and spy on their users. In the past, a lawsuit was filed against Nokia Siemens, alleging that the technology the firm sold to Iran aided in the regime's construction of a censorship and surveillance network.