Updated

Iran's telecommunication minister says the government has blocked Google's Gmail service following a court order to bar access to the popular email service.

The semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Reza Taghipour as saying Tuesday that Gmail had not observed Iranian law. He did not elaborate but said if the court changes its decision his ministry will lift its block on Google's mail service.

He said Google's search engine remains available in Iran.

Taghipour's comments come after many Internet users in Iran reported having no access to their Gmail accounts Monday.

Iranian authorities have warned in recent days that they would block access to Google services, including Gmail, in response to the anti-Islam film posted on YouTube, which is owned by Google.