Back Online, Iranians Face The Same Internet Restrictions

For 88 days, millions of Iranians lived in digital darkness after the authorities imposed a nationwide Internet shutdown following the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel.

But the end of one of the world’s longest-ever Internet blackouts offered scant consolation for many Iranians who reconnected to the same heavily filtered and state-controlled network after nearly three months.

Still, some Iranians were relieved to escape the near-complete isolation forced on the Middle Eastern country of some 90 million people.

“The feeling of collective humiliation, restricted access to information, even access to treatment and health care -- these are basic human rights, yet all of them had been taken away,” Vida, who only gave her first name for fear of retribution, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

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“Access was so restricted that even e-mail wouldn’t open, and communication with people outside Iran had become impossible,” Vida added. “[The outside world] had no idea what was happening here under wartime conditions.”

'Can't Speak To Our Families'

On May 25, Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian ordered the Ministry of Communications to restore access to the Internet, which had been at least partially shut down since mass protests against the country’s clerical rulers in early January.

A full shutdown was imposed on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran.

Internet monitoring platforms on May 26 reported the partial restoration of the Internet, though they disagreed on how much access had returned.

Monitoring group Netblocks said Internet connectivity in Iran was at around 80 percent of pre-January levels, noting that WhatsApp remained restricted and some users were still offline. US network monitoring firm Kentik put traffic levels at around 41 percent. Both groups appeared to be using different metrics to calculate Internet traffic. The discrepancy reflects the difference between what the two firms measure: NetBlocks tracks whether networks are reachable, while Kentik measures how much data is actually flowing through them.

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In a written message to Radio Farda, one Iranian said even fewer VPNs -- virtual private networks used to bypass Internet censorship -- were working now and connection speeds were very slow.

Elham, an Iranian living in Germany, said her family in the Islamic republic have still been unable to connect to the Internet.

“They’re either lying about the restoration or the connection speeds are so slow that we can’t speak to our families,” Elham, who did not want to use her full name for security reasons, said in an audio message sent to Radio Farda. “We’ve grown tired.”

'Trust Has Been Lost'

Iranians refused to celebrate the partial restoration of the heavily censored Internet.

Former lawmaker Bahram Parsaei said the move "deserves no fanfare” in a post on X, calling it "only a return to the previous state."

Parsaei said the government’s attempt to spin the return of the Internet as an achievement was “an insult to people’s intelligence.”

In a post on X, Iranian podcaster Arash Nalchegar said that until filtering is lifted, "this is like sending people from solitary confinement to the general population" in prison.

Tehran-based tech entrepreneur Vahid Farid said Internet access that can be cut off, restricted, and sold by the government to the public at exorbitant prices “builds no future for us or for the country."

He was referring to the government’s unequal access policies such as “white Internet” access for regime-connected individuals and commercial “Internet Pro” services for wealthier users.

The economic toll of Iran’s blackout has been significant. Afshin Kolahi, an official from Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, said during an April 12 session that the shutdown was costing the country up to $40 million per day. Indirect losses, he said, were up to $80 million each day.

Internet monitoring groups said it was still too early to say if the restoration would be sustained.

"The general feeling is that this Internet situation is temporary. Trust has been lost," Iranian journalist Niloofar Qadiri said a post on X.