Iran considers ‘gradually’ restoring internet after shutdown

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have said they are considering “gradually” restoring internet access after imposing a sweeping communications shutdown across the country more than a week ago, local media reported.

On Sunday morning, AFP was able to connect to the internet from its Tehran office, though the vast majority of internet providers and mobile internet remain cut.

It was not immediately clear why the limited connection was possible.

Outgoing international calls have been possible since Tuesday, and text messaging was restored Saturday morning.

Late Saturday, the Tasnim news agency reported “the relevant authorities announced that internet access would also be gradually restored”, but gave no further details.

Citing an unnamed “informed source”, the agency said local messaging applications “will soon be activated” on Iran’s domestic intranet.

READ MORE: Iran’s leader demands crackdown on ‘seditionists’ after protests

The unprecedented communications blackout was imposed as calls proliferated for anti-government demonstrations initially triggered by the country’s economic malaise.

For days, text messages and international phone calls – and at times even local calls – were cut off.

Iran has since been relying on its intranet, which has supported local media websites, ride-hailing apps, delivery service and banking platforms.

State television has since Saturday been promoting local messaging applications including Rubika – which was largely unavailable earlier this week.

READ MORE: Death toll in Iran protests over 3,000, rights group says

Even before the blackout, popular applications such as Instagram, Facebook, X, Telegram and YouTube had been blocked in Iran for years, requiring VPN connections to bypass the restrictions.

The protests, which began on December 28, have been widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership since the months-long demonstrations that followed the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini. 

But the latest demonstrations appear to have subsided in recent days.

Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll for the protests, but Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported that 3,428 people were verified to have been killed by security forces, while warning the actual toll could be several times higher.

Other estimates place the toll at more than 5,000 – and possibly as high as 20,000, IHR said.

The opposition Iran International channel based outside the country has said at least 12,000 people were killed during the protests, citing senior government and security sources.

Iran’s judiciary has completely rejected that figure.

Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into “riots” that included vandalism of public property.

Authorities have blamed foreign influence, namely from Iran’s foes the United States and Israel.

On Saturday, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “a few thousand” people had been killed by what he called “agents” of the two countries who instigated the unrest.