Tehran, Jan 16 (.) Tightening its chokehold on internet connectivity, Iran has moved into enacting what digital rights activists describe as the final phase of its sweeping, nationwide curbs on internet access, and place the country’s entire communications infrastructure under total state control, according to the advocacy group Filterban.
In a report released on Thursday, Filterban said the authorities were working to transform internet access from a public utility into a form of state-granted privilege, available only to users with high-level security clearance. The shift, it warned, would effectively sever most Iranians from the open internet.
“This is the transition to a communications black hole,” the group said, describing a system in which the majority of users would lose access to global online services.
Filterban said the government is upgrading deep packet inspection technology to detect and block traffic routed through Starlink satellite links and virtual private networks, while forcing private companies and institutions onto tightly monitored domestic messaging platforms.
At the same time, it said, several foreign technical partners have been stealthily departing various parts of Iran’s telecommunications sector, signalling the end of what the group describes as “meaningful international cooperation” in critical digital infrastructure.
“The era of public internet access in Iran is coming to an end,” the report alleged.
The measures of a total state grip on telecommunications is already rippling across the economy, with Filterban pointing to the steep drop in e-commerce activity and disruptions in online supply chains following the latest shutdown.
Highlighting the extent of the internet chokehold, it has been noted that the current nationwide blackout as of now has exceeded the threshold of more than 180 hours, surpassing the duration of the 2019 internet shutdown, according to internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks.
In an update posted on Friday, the group said there had been no partial or regional restoration of connectivity so far, but rather further placing it under an iron grip.
“In 2019, it was only after connectivity was restored that the scale of the brutal crackdown became known,” NetBlocks said, warning that the current outage could be obscuring the full extent of events on the ground.
IranWire reported on Thursday that the government plans to keep the blackout in place until at least the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, which falls around March 20.
Citing media activists briefed by officials, the outlet said government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani indicated that access to international online services would not be restored before then.
The shutdown, as per the publication is now in its second week, and is also expected to continue beyond the 40-day mourning period traditionally observed for those killed in the recent nationwide protests.
This development comes as authorities were reportedly reaching the final stages of implementing what has been described as an “internet kill switch” — a system designed to enable prolonged, nationwide shutdowns at will, as per an earlier report of Iran International this week.
According to the report, the project involves shifting core digital services, banking platforms and elements of public infrastructure onto a closed national network, allowing extended blackouts to be enforced with minimal disruption to state operations.
For activists and analysts, the concern is that Iran is not merely responding to unrest with temporary restrictions, but locking in a long-term architecture of digital isolation — one that could fundamentally reshape how society, business and dissent function in the country.
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