Pokemon Go now banned in Iran due to 'security concerns'

Niantic and The Pokemon Company's mobile game Pokemon Go continues to be popular and polarizing, as the BBC reports that Iran's High Council of Virtual Spaces has issued a country-wide ban on the game due to "security concerns."

While many online games can be difficult or impossible to play in some countries (either by happenstance or official edict) it's still quite rare to see a government target a specific game.

According to the BBC, Iranian officials have been contemplating banning Pokemon Go for some time, but were waiting to see whether or not its developers would cooperate with them in order to allay officials' (yet unnamed) fears.

Presumably their concerns are somewhat in line with the instigators of a recent class-action lawsuit against Niantic regarding Pokemon Go's propensity to entice players onto private property in search of in-game Pokemon to capture and hot spots to visit.

This is far from the first negative reception the game has received from government officials, though it's probably the biggest. Earlier this month U.S. senator Al Franken called on its developers to address his concerns about the way the game handles private user data, and New York governor Andrew Cuomo called for Niantic to help prevent registered sex offenders from using the game.