20 days offline: Iran's internet blackout now the longest in country's history

The current internet blackout in Iran is now the longest in the history of the Islamic Republic. This was determined by the organization Netblocks, which analyzes such internet restrictions worldwide. An end to the Iranian blackout is not currently in sight, given the ongoing war against Israel and the USA. The longest internet blackout in Iranian history to date was only imposed at the beginning of the year following mass protests against the regime in Tehran. When the connection to the rest of the world was interrupted in January, the Islamic Republic proceeded with great brutality against the demonstrations, during which, according to media reports, more than 30,000 people were killed.

The current internet blockade was imposed on February 28, when Israel and the USA began to carry out air strikes on Iran. Among those killed was the then Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei; his son has since been installed as his successor. Iran subsequently began attacking various neighboring states. Among other things, two data centers of the Amazon subsidiary AWS were hit. With the extensive internet blockade, the regime also wants to nip protests in the bud, but there were exceptions for regime loyalists. Shortly before the Persian New Year, these were apparently also restricted, with further messengers blocked and the use of VPN services made more difficult.

The internet blockade and the war have brought online trade in the country to a near standstill. Hundreds of thousands of companies nationwide are affected, an industry insider in Tehran told the dpa news agency. The approximately 90 million inhabitants currently only have access to a severely restricted national network, but trade relies on apps like Instagram for marketing products and services.

The IT industry is also suffering from the war. No one can afford laptops and mobile phones anymore, quotes the news agency a 33-year-old owner of a small computer store: "I don't know who else to curse. The regime that is responsible for all this misery, the Americans who are destroying the country instead of liberating it, or the Israelis who finally want to take revenge for the hostilities of recent decades."

(mho)