Internet connectivity collapses across Iran

Internet connectivity collapsed across Iran on Thursday, leaving the country experiencing a near-total disconnection from the outside world. According to Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik, a company that monitors internet traffic worldwide, the country’s internet has been in a near-total blackout since around 11:30 a.m. on the U.S. east coast, which corresponds to 8 p.m. local time in Tehran. Multiple worldwide internet traffic monitoring firms and infrastructure companies registered sudden, simultaneous drops in connectivity across the country. These included the internet traffic monitor NetBlocks, the internet infrastructure company Cloudflare, and the internet connectivity tracking site IODA. David Belson, the head of data insight at Cloudflare, told TechCrunch, “We continue to see a small amount of traffic, but the country is effectively completely offline.”

The digital shutdown follows weeks of civil unrest that began at the end of December, when protests erupted in several Iranian cities. The demonstrations were sparked by a sharp drop in the value of the country’s currency, which led to shortages of goods and dramatic spikes in prices. The economic crisis also prompted some shops in Tehran’s traditional bazaar to close, with closures lasting for 11 days, according to reporting by The New York Times. In response to the nationwide protests, the Iranian government has responded by violently cracking down on the protesters.

Cybersecurity researchers and monitoring organizations attribute the disruption directly to the state. Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity researcher who works for the nonprofit Miaan Group, stated that the Iranian government is behind the internet blackout. Rashidi, who tracks the country’s digital space, explained that the country has reached a near-total disconnection from the outside world. The Iranian government maintains tight control over the country’s internet access. Representatives for the Iranian government in the United States did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website was down at the time of publication.

Why it matters

The Iranian government’s use of internet blackouts as a tool to suppress dissent highlights the vulnerability of national digital infrastructure during periods of civil unrest.