Iran’s internet shutdown is now one of its longest ever, as protests continue

As of Thursday, around 92 million people in Iran have been completely cut off from the internet for more than a week, marking one of the country's most extended nationwide internet shutdowns on record, according to experts.

Last Thursday, Iran's leadership cut off internet and phone access across the country in response to widespread anti-government protests. The demonstrations, which began late last year, have been met with a violent crackdown by authorities.

At the time of writing, Iranians have been without internet access for more than 170 hours. Previous nationwide shutdowns lasted roughly 163 hours in 2019 and 160 hours in 2025, according to NetBlocks. Isik Mater, NetBlocks' director of research, said the current outage is now the country's third-longest recorded.

Mater noted that globally, the most extended shutdown occurred in Sudan in mid-2021, lasting about 35 days, followed by an outage in Mauritania in July 2024, which lasted 22 days.
"Iran's shutdowns remain among the most comprehensive and tightly enforced nationwide blackouts we've observed, particularly in terms of population affected," Mater said in comments reported by TechCrunch.

The precise ranking of shutdowns varies depending on how organisations define and measure them. Zach Rosson, a researcher at Access Now, said that, based on the group's data, the current shutdown in Iran is on track to become one of the 10 most extended internet blackouts ever recorded.

Iran has a long history of restricting internet access during periods of protest and civil unrest, often limiting people's ability to monitor events on the ground. A U.S.-based human rights organisation estimates that more than 600 protests have taken place across Iranian cities. Separate estimates suggest that at least 2,000 people have been killed during the government's crackdown.

The shutdown, which began on January 8, was abrupt and even cut off government institutions, including the foreign ministry. Since then, some government departments and parts of the economy—such as banking services and payment systems at gas stations—have had their internet access partially restored, as reported this week by The Financial Times.

According to The Guardian, a small but unknown number of Iranians have been able to get online using Starlink terminals that were smuggled into the country. In 2022, the Biden administration introduced an exemption to U.S. sanctions on Iran to support internet freedom, allowing U.S. technology companies to provide connectivity services, which enabled Starlink to operate in Iran.

Iranian authorities have since cracked down on Starlink use by banning the ownership of terminals, jamming signals in entire neighbourhoods, and confiscating devices.

This week, Donald Trump threatened military intervention if Iranian forces continue to use violence, while also reducing personnel at a U.S. military base in neighbouring Qatar amid concerns over possible retaliation. The U.S. military has also reportedly redirected a naval strike group from the South China Sea to the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Trump said he had information suggesting that "the killing has stopped and the executions won't take place," though he added, "who knows?"

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated staff, while Iran temporarily shut its airspace on Wednesday.