In a development which indicates Iran's unrelenting attempts to eradicate Western sway on its Internet, the country revealed in a Sunday announcement that it has launched a YouTube-like video-sharing site - called `Mehr' - which is a censored and monitored site, sanctioned by the Iranian government.

According to an Agence France Presse report, the Mehr website will unfold for the Iranians the opportunity to share videos with one another; without affecting the veil which the Iranian government has pulled over YouTube after its content because its content has been deemed as inappropriate.

YouTube, and other social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, have been blocked by the Iranian government on the grounds that the Western influence of these websites is undermining the Islamic regime.

Going by the information shared on the website of the Iranian state TV, Mehr - a Farsi word meaning `affection' - will essentially attract Persian-speaking users, and will aim at promoting Iranian and Islamic culture and artists. However, the website makes no mention of the extent to which Mehr will be monitored.

About the launch of the Mehr video-sharing website by Iran, an Associated Press report said that Iran is describing the move as its effort to "create its own Internet universe scrubbed of Western content"; though cyber-technology experts are of the opinion that it is almost impossible to break away from the World Wide Web.