Samsung has informed its mobile phone users in Iran that it will no longer be providing access to the company’s app store as of May 22, 2013. The move comes as a result of the ever-increasing sanctions that Western countries are imposing as a punishment for Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program; Tehran has continuously denied the existence of such a program.

We contacted Samsung for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Iranians have felt the pressure of sanctions even more this week as Tehran has raised the rial’s official price to the dollar, making imports far more expensive—Bloomberg reported that meat prices have shot up 60 percent, while cooking oil has jumped 35 percent. (The unofficial black-market exchange rate is even higher still.)

According to the Associated Press, Samsung users in Tehran reported receiving the advisory message from Samsung on Wednesday night, which was confirmed by a number of Persian-language tech news sites (Google Translate).

"We have heard about it, but we are only responsible for hardware here, not software and apps," said Bijan Ashtiani, who sells Samsung phones in Tehran.

Samsung is one of the few manufacturers to provide phones to Iranians in the Persian language. Nokia Siemens pulled out of the country last year.