I have written a python script to listen on port 2626 and executed the script.

proof that localhost is listening

tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:2626          0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN

I can connect via telnet to this port over localhost with the following command:

:~$ telnet localhost 2626

Trying ::1...

Trying 127.0.0.1...

Connected to localhost.

Escape character is '^]'.

However when I try to connect from a remote machine the connection gets refused.

 :~$ telnet 128.251.xxx.xxx 2626

 Trying 128.251.xxx.xxx...

 telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused

I even issued the following command to accept traffic on port 2626:

 sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 --dport 2626 -j ACCEPT

What could be the reason telnet on port 2626 is refusing connections from remote machines and how can I fix it?