DIGITAL LIFE

Iranians have been isolated and without internet access for a week; national lockdown imposed by the dictatorial regime

Iran remains under a near-total internet blackout, data monitoring site NetBlocks said Saturday. "A whole week has passed since #Iran plunged into digital darkness under a national internet blackout imposed by the regime," NetBlocks said in a social media post.

"The measure remains in effect after 168 hours, leaving the public isolated, without vital updates and alerts, while authorities and state media maintain access," NetBlocks said. According to the publication, internet traffic is at about 1% of normal levels.

US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran continued on Saturday, a week after the launch of their joint campaign to dismantle Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, while also pressing for regime change.

Iran has implemented internet blackouts during periods of social unrest in the past. A near-blackout similar to the one imposed for several weeks in January, amid widespread protests in the country, CNBC recalls.

However, some analysts said that additional factors may be contributing to the internet disruption.

"While the exact cause is still unclear, it's almost certainly a combination of state-ordered repression and external cyber interference," Kathryn Raines, team leader for cyber threat intelligence at the Flashpoint intelligence platform, told CNBC earlier this week.

Iran has not officially commented on the disruption.

Analysts say the lack of internet connectivity in Iran will likely increase confusion, with citizens on the ground unable to communicate with their families, document events, or get real-time updates on the conflict.

Cybersecurity firms have warned that Iran is likely to respond with cyberattacks, carried out directly by the government or by allied groups.

In a statement shared with CNBC, Adam Meyers, head of counterattack operations at CrowdStrike, stated that the company was already "observing activity consistent with threat actors and hacktivist groups aligned with Iran conducting reconnaissance and initiating denial-of-service (DoS) attacks."

Iranian authorities have implemented severe, near-total internet shutdowns to crush protests and conceal violent crackdowns, plunging the country into digital darkness. Beginning in early January 2026, these measures severed connections to the outside world, restricting users to a state-controlled, domestic "Intranet" while disabling foreign sites, mobile data, and international messaging apps.

Key details on the internet situation in Iran(below):

Purpose: The shutdowns are used as a, "Orwellian" tool of repression, to prevent the documentation of violence, halt organization of protests, and isolate citizens.

Scope: The shutdown includes mobile data and international broadband, leaving users with only local services, according to reports from the Guardian and Al Jazeera.

Duration: A major shutdown began on January 8, 2026, lasting nearly three weeks, with subsequent, repeated blackouts following, including during early March 2026, notes The Conversation and Al Jazeera.

Impact: The blackout has caused widespread panic, cut off families from each other, halted economic activity for online businesses, and created a "fog of war" during conflicts, according to CNBC and Iran International.

Workarounds: Users are forced to rely on, expensive, often unreliable VPNs to bypass censorship, or seek access to satellite internet, notes Al Jazeera.

mundophone