TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani re-entered Iran’s feverish debate on Internet censorship and gender segregation Sunday, saying neither policy was in the country’s interest.

Rouhani was elected last year having pledged to be more moderate on social issues after his conservative predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s eight-year tenure, but he has encountered resistance.

“Some people think we can fix these problems by building walls, but when you create filters, they create proxies,” Rouhani said, referring to proxy servers in other countries used by Iranians to circumvent national regulations. “This (current policy) does not work. Force does not produce results,” he added, in a speech broadcast live on state television.

The 3G licenses decision caused controversy with conservative clerics and officials arguing that video call functions on smartphones could expose youngsters to “immoral content.”