Iran International
Iran has imposed new restrictions on internet access, further limiting VPN connections and reportedly targeting Starlink users, leaving even fewer people able to access global networks.
Seventeen days after the outbreak of war, connectivity in the country has fallen to about one percent of normal levels, leaving most people unable to reach the global internet.
Some users initially managed limited access using specialized VPN configurations, but many say those options have largely stopped working since Sunday.
Asked in a CBS interview why he was able to conduct a Zoom call while ordinary citizens could not access the internet, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he had access because he is “the voice of Iranians” and must defend their rights.
The comment drew criticism from Iranians still able to briefly connect.
“People of Iran are not voiceless themselves, and this man is not their voice,” one user wrote. “Open the internet so you can hear the real voice of the people from inside the country.”
‘No picture, no voice’
Even among the few who can still connect, the internet is barely usable. Users say images and videos on social media often fail to load, and in many cases, core features of platforms have stopped functioning.
“Direct messages practically don’t open, and mentions disappear quickly if I try to answer them,” one user said. “Videos and voice messages are basically inaccessible because they consume too much data.”
Another described the experience in stark terms: “The internet feels more like a dying breath than a means of communication these days,” adding that data-limited connections have become extremely slow and prices have sharply increased.
The internet monitoring group NetBlocks said Monday that disruptions to telecommunications infrastructure were further reducing VPN availability and sending some whitelisted users and services offline, it said.
The restrictions appear to be affecting domestic networks as well. Some users say even Iranian websites are difficult to access, while customers of certain banks have temporarily lost access to their accounts.
Reports of disruptions have also surfaced in mobile banking apps, payment cards and Iranian messaging platforms such as Bale, suggesting that parts of Iran’s internal network are also experiencing instability.
Experts say the cause of the broader disruptions remains unclear.
Starlink crackdown
At the same time, warnings have spread widely online urging owners of Starlink satellite internet devices to turn them off.
According to posts circulating on social media, Iranian security forces may be actively searching for Starlink kits and detaining users, with some claims of arrests in cities including Tehran and Kermanshah.
The warnings say patrol vehicles equipped with signal scanners are being used to detect radio emissions from Starlink equipment and pinpoint their location.
A Starlink user told Iran International he has taken multiple precautions to avoid detection but said the risk remains constant.
“I’m afraid all the time that a neighbor might report it,” he said. “They might accuse Starlink users of espionage and sentence them to heavy punishment as a warning to others.”
He added that the restrictions have forced ordinary users to learn complex technical workarounds simply to stay connected.
Not everyone believes the warnings about Starlink detection are accurate.
Some users say the reports may be part of a psychological campaign to frighten people into turning off their devices, noting that locating satellite terminals at scale would require capabilities authorities may not widely possess.
But amid the uncertainty, many say they are preparing for the possibility that their last remaining connection to the outside world could disappear entirely.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.