Iran Disrupts Internet As It Step Up Attacks On Kurdish Cities

Netblocks that monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the Internet announced in a tweet on Monday that network traffic data show a major disruption to internet service in Iran as mobile internet is cut off for many users.

The incident comes amid a wave of new antigovernment protests and reports of casualties, mainly in the western Kurdish cities.

Several videos shared on social media on Monday showed crowds in the Kurdish-populated city of Javanrud attending to one injured man, and seeking to retrieve the body of a dead protester lying on the street.

Hengaw, a Kurdish Iranian rights group, shared a video of security forces being dispatched to the Kurdish cities of Mahabad and Bukan in dozens of pickups, motorbikes, police cars and one light armored vehicle painted black.

In the past few days, the Islamic Republic has intensified its repression on Kurdish-majority cities and towns in western provinces of the country following reports that parts of some small towns have fallen into the people’s hands. The majority of Iran's 10 million Kurds live in the western parts of the country. It has also launched repeated attacks against Iranian Kurds sheltering in Iraqi Kurdistan.