We have asked ArenaNet to comment on the news that Guild Wars, and we assume Guild Wars 2, was banned in Iran. While ArenaNet had not sent us a response, Blizzard has posted a note on their WoW forums explaining their situation with World of Warcraft in Iran.

According to the post by Blizzard, the blocking is due to US sanctions against Iran, so we can assume ArenaNet has a similar policy to follow. The statement from Blizzard reads:

Our team has been watching this thread closely, and we understand the desire for more information about this situation. Blizzard Entertainment cannot speak to any reports surrounding the Iranian government restricting games from its citizens.

What we can tell you is that United States trade restrictions and economic sanction laws prohibit Blizzard from doing business with residents of certain nations, including Iran. Several of you have seen and cited the text in the Terms of Use which relates to these government-imposed sanctions. This week, Blizzard tightened up its procedures to ensure compliance with these laws, and players connecting from the affected nations are restricted from access to Blizzard games and services.

This also prevents us from providing any refunds, credits, transfers, or other service options to accounts in these countries. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes and will happily lift these restrictions as soon as US law allows.

We still await clarification from ArenaNet.