Internet shutdown in Iran is now the longest in world history
After the national record was already broken, it now also applies at the global level. A different country previously held the record.
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It is a sad world record: Iranian society is living under the longest internet shutdown ever imposed on an entire state worldwide as of today (as of Sunday, April 5, 2026). Today marks the 37th day that society in Iran has been offline, leading to massive restrictions in daily life. Internet blockades worldwide are analyzed by the organization Netblocks, which also drew attention to this.
The shutdown was imposed by the ruling mullah regime on February 28 in the wake of attacks by the USA and Israel on the country. The longest internet shutdown in Iranian history to date was only imposed in January following mass protests against the regime in Tehran. The background was mass protests that the regime brutally suppressed. According to media reports, there were around 30,000 deaths.
Economy suffers from the internet shutdown
During the current internet shutdown, only a very limited national network is available to the Iranian population; everything else is not, such as social media like Instagram. The regime had previously confirmed exceptions to the internet shutdown for regime loyalists to ensure propaganda purposes. Shortly before the Persian New Year, internet access was further restricted and the previously functioning internet releases for regime loyalists were also largely stopped.
Online retail has come to a near standstill, with hundreds of thousands of companies affected, according to dpa information. The IT industry is also suffering from the situation. According to Netblocks, nationwide internet connectivity is at around one percent of normal levels.
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Previously, it was Sudan that was the nation that denied its citizens the internet for the longest time: from June 3, 2019, to July 9, 2019, access in the African country was almost completely blocked, with 36 full days passing without internet access. The background was a brutal attack by the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on demonstrators in Sudan's capital Khartoum, with at least 100 deaths.
(nen)
