Iran Enters Near-Total Internet Blackout Amid Widespread Economic Protests

Internet access across Iran largely collapsed on Thursday as

 spread nationwide amid a worsening economic crisis, according to multiple internet-monitoring organisations.

Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity researcher with the nonprofit Miaan Group, told TechCrunch that the country appeared to be almost entirely cut off from the global internet.

“We’re essentially seeing a near-total disconnection from the outside world,” Rashidi said.

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, confirmed that Iran entered a “near-total blackout” beginning around 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States, corresponding to approximately 8 p.m. local time in Tehran.

A chart showing how internet traffic declined in Iran on Thursday at approximately 11:30 a.m. ET Image Credits: Kentik Internet

Data from multiple independent sources corroborated the outage. Internet traffic monitoring group NetBlocks, infrastructure provider Cloudflare, and connectivity tracking platform IODA all reported abrupt and widespread connectivity drops nationwide.

Starting around 16:30 UTC (20:00 local time), traffic in #Iran began to drop rapidly, falling nearly 90% in the following 30 minutes. Declines were seen across major network providers.

Follow the latest status at https://t.co/V77cj6rrQW pic.twitter.com/vwjKMp5FTB — Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) January 8, 2026

David Belson, Cloudflare’s head of data insight, said only minimal traffic remained visible. “We continue to observe a minimal amount of activity, but for all practical purposes, the country is almost completely offline,” he said.

The blackout comes amid escalating unrest. In late December, demonstrations broke out in multiple Iranian cities following a steep decline in the value of the national currency, which triggered shortages of basic goods and sharp price increases. According to The New York Times, parts of Tehran’s historic bazaar have remained closed for nearly two weeks.

Iranian authorities have responded to the protests with a violent crackdown, according to human rights observers.

Rashidi said the internet shutdown was implemented by the Iranian government, which exercises strict control over domestic internet infrastructure and has previously imposed similar blackouts during periods of unrest.

Officials representing the Iranian government in the United States did not respond to requests for comment. At the time of publication, the website of Iran’s Foreign Ministry was also inaccessible.

The blackout underscores how internet disruptions continue to be used as tools during periods of political and economic instability in the country.