Washington — The U.S. Treasury Department is permitting technology companies to export online services such as instant messaging, e-mail and Web browsing to Iran, Sudan and Cuba to help people communicate through the Internet and social networks.

The Treasury Department on March 8 announced the changes that allow general licenses to export personal Internet communications services. The changes also permit exporting software to Iran and Sudan, but similar export licensing for Cuba is controlled by the U.S. Commerce Department. Previously, digital technology companies were reluctant to export personal communications services to those countries because of federal export restrictions.

“Consistent with the administration’s deep commitment to the universal rights of all the world’s citizens, the issuance of these general licenses will make it easier for individuals in Iran, Sudan and Cuba to use the Internet to communicate with each other and with the outside world,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said in the announcement.

“Today’s actions will enable Iranian, Sudanese and Cuban citizens to exercise their most basic rights,” he added.

The action was first recommended in December 2009 when the State Department submitted to Congress notification of a national interest waiver under federal law that would permit exporting free mass-market software to Iran. The software was necessary for the exchange and sharing of personal communications over the Internet. Treasury announced amendments to sanctions regulations that would permit issuing export licenses for the three countries. The changes do not affect restrictions on North Korea and Syria.

The waiver does not apply to encryption and other software that would permit tracking of an individual’s personal Internet activity, according to Treasury officials. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have said access to Internet communications is a basic goal of U.S. foreign policy.

“As recent events in Iran have shown, personal Internet-based communications like e-mail, instant messaging and social networking are powerful tools,” Wolin said. “This software will foster and support the free flow of information — a basic human right — for all Iranians.”

But Wolin cautioned that the United States will continue to aggressively enforce existing sanctions and will work with international partners to increase pressure on the Iranian regime to meet international obligations. That is a specific reference to efforts by the United States and other Western nations to convince Iranian leaders to forgo development of nuclear weapons. The United States and others are seeking a new set of sanctions against Iran if its leaders do not end uranium enrichment, considered an essential component in making a nuclear weapon.