“This is the worst internet shutdown in Iran’s history,” said Ali Tehrani, director of Washington operations for Psiphon, an open-source anti-censorship tool widely used in Iran. “Even Starlink uploads have been affected.”
Tehrani said supporting internet freedom in Iran must become a serious and active priority for the U.S. government, particularly as Iranian authorities increasingly rely on digital blackouts during periods of unrest.
Cybersecurity expert Amin Sabeti told Iran International that the blackout, which began Thursday evening local time, has severed access to the global internet across much of the country and disrupted domestic online services that remained partially available during previous crackdowns.
“This is the most extreme internet shutdown we’ve ever had,” Sabeti said, adding that its scope signals a significant escalation in Tehran’s use of digital repression amid nationwide unrest.
‘Iranians will die’
Iranian authorities have imposed the communications blackout to prevent protesters from coordinating and to stop evidence of state violence from reaching the outside world.
Tehrani said the current shutdown is even more severe than the near-total blackout during the November 2019 uprising, widely known as Bloody Aban, named after the month in the Persian calendar when the protests occurred.
“It’s not just for The Washington Post that democracy dies in the darkness—it’s Iranians that die in the dark,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Taleblu said communications shutdowns are a core component of Iran’s repression strategy, designed to sever the link between protesters and the international community while security forces operate with reduced scrutiny.
Dozens killed
Despite the blackout, Iran International said it has received and reviewed a disturbing video showing several people lying motionless on the ground following large protests held Thursday night in Fardis, about 25 miles west of Tehran.
The outlet said the shutdown has obstructed efforts to determine the full scale of casualties shown in the footage.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran said on Friday that it has grave and urgent concerns that Iranian security forces may be carrying out lethal repression under the cover of the internet shutdown.
The group said it has received credible first-hand reports of hospitals overwhelmed with injured protesters in several cities and has documented the use of live ammunition by security forces.
It warned that reports of mass killings from the night of January 8 could not be independently verified due to the communications blackout.
