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Middle East|Internet Clampdown Strains Iranians’ Links to One Another, and the World
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/world/middleeast/iran-shutdown-restrictions.html
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Throughout its 12 days of war with Israel in June, Iran enforced a near total internet blackout on its people, saying that it was a necessary security measure to stop Israeli infiltration.
Though the authorities have since technically lifted the blackout, internet activists, tech entrepreneurs and rights monitors say that a wartime chokehold on the web remains, leaving many Iranians still in the dark.
Digital rights experts say that internet speeds have been slowed, online traffic has been curtailed and geolocation positioning services, or GPS, is jammed. The use of satellite internet tools like Starlink, which could allow users to bypass such blocks, has been criminalized.
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The partial shutdown has left Iranians struggling to communicate with one another and the outside world. Compounding Iran’s international isolation, the United Nations recently reimposed sanctions on its nuclear program.
The internet restrictions have had profound implications for ordinary Iranians. Since the war, simple tasks like finding directions, ordering a taxi or paying for groceries online have become an hourslong saga.
