San Francisco, Mar 16 (IANS): In what appears to be a total cut off for the country, Apple has blocked access to its App Store for users in Iran, the media reported.

The Cupertino-headquartered giant does not sell its products or operate its App Store in Iran and now it has blocked all the traffic coming from the country and also from accessing its App Store in any capacity.

"Users were not able to connect to the Apple App Store to install or update applications. When visiting the App Store, they were instead greeted with the message 'the App Store is unavailable in the country or region you're in'," tech website Bleeping Computer reported on Friday.

According to Meysam Firouzi, an Iranian security researcher, he could successfully connect to the App Store while using a VPN despite having Iran-related details set on his account which indicates that the ban is IP-based.

Previously, users in the country were able to at least view and download apps from the App Store.

In August 2017, the tech giant removed all apps created by Iranian developers from its App Store, citing the US-imposed economic sanctions.

Earlier, in 2015, Apple explored the possibility of doing business in Iran during easing of tensions between the Iranian and US governments, according to Venture Beat.

However, sanctions were maintained and Iran's government has since had an uneasy relationship with Apple and its products, the Venture Beat report added.