The internet blackout in Iran is now one of the longest on record, as protests continue

As of Thursday, 92 million Iranians have been completely blocked from accessing the internet for more than a week, in what is now one of the longest nationwide internet shutdowns ever, according to experts.

last thursday, Iranian leadership blocked access to the Internet and telephone Across the country in response Massive anti-government protestswhich started at the end of last year and paid A brutal and deadly crackdown From the authorities.

As of this writing, Iranians have been unable to access the Internet for more than 170 hours. The country’s longest internet outages lasted about 163 hours in 2019, and 160 hours in 2025, according to Esik Mater, research director at NetBlocks, a web monitoring firm that tracks internet outages.

Mater said that the current internet outage in Iran is the third longest outage ever, after the internet outage in Sudan in mid-2021, which lasted about 35 days, followed by the internet outage in Mauritania in July 2024, which lasted 22 days.

“Iran’s internet blackouts remain among the most extensive and tightly enforced nationwide power outages that we have observed, especially with regard to affected populations,” Matter told TechCrunch.

The exact ranking depends on how each organization measures the closing process.

Zach Rawson, a researcher who studies internet disruptions at the digital rights nonprofit AccessNow, told TechCrunch that according to his data, the ongoing lockdown in Iran is on its way out. The ten longest closures in history.

The Iranian government has a long record of shutting down internet access during times of protests and civil unrest, often making it more difficult to monitor protests from outside the country.

US-based human rights group Estimates There have been more than 600 protests in cities across Iran, according to One estimateIranian government Violent repression It led to the deaths of at least 2,000 people.

the Lockdown in Iran on January 8 It was surprising that government institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were cut off from the Internet. Since then, access to some government departments, and some parts of the economy, such as bank transfers and payment processors at gas stations, has been restored, as the Financial Times reported. I reported this week.

According to The Guardian newspapera relatively small but unknown number of Iranians are using Starlink terminals smuggled into the country to connect to the Internet. In 2022, the Biden administration Carved exemption to sanctions imposed by the US government against Iran to “increase support for Internet freedom”, and allow US technology companies to provide connectivity to Iranians for free, paving the way for Starlink to operate in Iran.

Since then, the authorities have cracked down on Starlink users to prepare It is illegal to own a Starlink station, Jamming Entire neighborhoods and devices confiscated.

This week, President Donald Trump He threatened militarily Intervene if Iranian forces continue to use violence all the time Reduce staff At a military base in neighboring Qatar, amid fears of a possible retaliatory strike. And the US Army as well It is said It redirected a naval strike group from the South China Sea to the Middle East.

But on Wednesday Trump said He had information that “the killing has stopped and the execution will not be carried out,” but he acknowledged that “who knows?”

Meanwhile, the UK Its embassy was closed In the Iranian capital, Tehran, and its employees were evacuated. Iran Temporarily closed The atmosphere on Wednesday.