Tehran, Jan 21 (.) More than 300 hours have passed since Iran implemented its nationwide internet blackout, leaving the country in a near-total digital void, in what is perhaps the country’s longest internet blackout, as the massive public unrest grinds on. The Islamic Republic is using every tool to restrict the flow of information and digitally disconnect Iranians from the outside world.
According to internet monitoring group NetBlocks, the restrictions were designed specifically to keep most Iranians offline while allowing extremely access through an array of tightly “whitelisted” networks.
“Attempts to obscure the truth will be documented in real time: the world is watching,” the group said, warning that the blackout now exceeds the duration of Iran’s most notorious past shutdowns.
Alongside the blackout, authorities are using every tool to shape the narrative by placing commentary in foreign outlets, as they simultaneously accelerate their efforts to seal off the domestic cyberspace.
According to US-based advocates, Tehran is pushing ahead with its measures for a closed, new state-controlled intranet that would permanently sever ordinary users from the open internet, reports Iran International.
“Like North Korea, the Islamic Republic has been working to build an intranet, and it is scary,” said Neda Bolourchi, executive director of the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans. “It will be blocking off Iran.”
The shutdown, she said, remains severe though not absolute, as there are small cracks in the connectivity void, unwittingly allowing Iranians to disseminate information globally.
The small access points are not appearing due to some form of restraint by the state, but instead are intentional because the state itself cannot function without some online access.
All basic state institutions such as banks, hospitals, energy, and other social entities that rely on the internet have forced authorities to permit minimal connectivity, with the wider population remaining largely cut off, though nonetheless unwittingly allowing some to access the internet.
“We’re getting reports that landlines are sporadically available and that some of the throttling has been reduced,” Bolourchi said. A trickle of calls and messages is still getting through on platforms such as WhatsApp, though at dramatically reduced levels.
Satellite internet, once a crucial lifeline during earlier crackdowns, is also under assault.
Bolourchi said Iranian authorities are actively jamming signals from Starlink satellites, used frequently by Iranians to bypass state restrictions, while seizing receivers, which are relatively easy to detect.
Possession of such equipment, she warned, has become increasingly dangerous, as the Islamic Republic traditionally tends to apply the harshest, and most severe charges, which are reserved primarily for enemies of the regime, which includes capital punishment, life in prison, torture etc.
The greatest point of worry for activists is not just the severity of the blackout, but its duration, as previous shutdowns had proven that total disconnect would be financially unfeasible.
This one, however, has dragged on for an unprecedented duration, suggesting that the government, at least on some level, has managed to successfully isolate state infrastructure from public access.
“That points to something more permanent taking shape,” Bolourchi said, warning that Iranians could be trapped inside a sealed digital ecosystem even after protests fade.
She argued that Washington still has leverage if it chooses to use it, as the US Congress has already authorised funding for internet circumvention tools for Iran, including satellite connectivity and VPN support, approving $15 million a year for the effort.
“A lot could have been done over the past year that would be helping the people of Iran right now,” she said. “Instead, we’re always reacting after the fact.”
. . CDS