Iran Goes Dark as Protests Surge, Rights Groups Warn of Crackdown Behind Internet Shutdown

On the night of Jan. 8, as anti-government crowds still filled streets in Tehran and gunfire echoed from provincial towns, Iran went dark.

In the space of a few hours, mobile data networks collapsed, international traffic plunged, and a country of nearly 90 million people was largely cut off from the outside world. Independent network-monitoring groups reported that connectivity in Iran fell to a small fraction of normal levels, just as reports of live fire against demonstrators began to surge.

Digital-rights monitors and human rights organizations say the timing was no accident. They describe the move as a deliberate, nationwide internet shutdown ordered at the height of a growing protest wave — a blackout they say is being used to conceal one of the deadliest crackdowns in Iran in years.

The government has framed the unrest as foreign-backed “riots” and cited security needs. But rights groups argue the scope and duration of the blackout, combined with mounting reports of killings and mass arrests, show the internet has become a central instrument of repression.

A deliberate “digital blackout”

Network observatories NetBlocks and Cloudflare said connectivity in Iran began dropping sharply on the evening of Jan. 8, local time. Cloudflare reported that the amount of announced IPv6 address space in Iran — a key indicator of internet routing — fell by about 98.5% just before midnight UTC, with IPv6 traffic share dropping from around 12% to under 2%.

NetBlocks described the event as a “digital blackout,” saying live data showed Tehran and other regions “now entering a digital blackout” likely to “severely limit coverage of events on the ground” as protests spread.

Mobile data services were hit hardest, according to multiple measurements and telecoms experts, effectively cutting off the main way most Iranians access the internet. Landline and fixed connections also suffered major disruptions. At the same time, parts of Iran’s state-controlled National Information Network — an internal intranet supporting banking, some government services and state media — remained accessible inside the country.

Authorities have not offered a detailed technical explanation. In past waves of unrest, officials have said restrictions were imposed temporarily for “security” reasons and blamed foreign powers for stoking protests. This time, senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting what they call “terrorist” unrest.

Opposition groups in exile say the move was ordered at the highest levels. The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran called the shutdown a “cyber siege” that aims to “isolate the population and conceal acts of suppression.”

Protests over prices, then politics

The blackout capped nearly two weeks of demonstrations that began on Dec. 28 in Tehran and quickly spread.

Initially, protesters rallied against a worsening economic crisis. Iran’s currency, the rial, has plunged to roughly 1.42 million to the U.S. dollar on the open market, according to traders, a devaluation of more than half in six months. Official data and independent economists put overall inflation at more than 40%, with food prices up by around 70% year on year and some staples rising far more. The cost of many medicines has roughly doubled over the past year, according to consumer reports and pharmacists.

The government’s decision to unwind a subsidized exchange rate for essential imports pushed up prices for bread, fuel and other basics, triggering anger in working-class neighborhoods and among bazaar traders. Within days, demonstrations spread to more than 100 cities and towns in at least 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to rights monitors and media reports.

As the protests grew, chants turned from grievances over high prices to direct calls for political change. Videos verified by journalists before the blackout showed crowds shouting “Death to Khamenei” and “Down with the dictator,” and in some places waving pre-1979 national flags associated with exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.

Bazaar merchants — traditionally part of the backbone of the 1979 Islamic Revolution — joined strikes and street protests in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and other commercial hubs. Several traders told foreign media they had lost faith in the ruling clerics, blaming economic hardship and the growing economic role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

Minority regions, including Kurdish and Lor areas, reported large rallies and general strikes. The Kurdish rights group Hengaw documented at least dozens of deaths in minority provinces in the first days of the unrest.

Lethal force and hidden tolls

Even before the nationwide blackout, security forces were using lethal force to quell the protests, according to a range of rights groups.

Amnesty International, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and others reported at least several dozen people killed across multiple cities by early January, and more than 2,000 detained. In some areas, witnesses described security forces firing live ammunition into crowds and raiding hospitals to arrest the wounded.

As soon as communications were cut on Jan. 8, casualty reporting began to diverge sharply. Fragmentary videos, testimony passed through satellite links and compilations by activist networks suggest a sharp escalation in killings that night and in the following days, particularly in Tehran and several provincial cities.

By Jan. 11, the activist news agency HRANA said it had confirmed 483 deaths among protesters and bystanders and 47 deaths among security forces, with hundreds of additional deaths reported but not yet verified. A compilation of rights group data cited by several international outlets put the minimum confirmed death toll above 500 by Jan. 12, climbing to at least 646 in some tallies, with more than 10,000 people detained.

Some accounts allege much higher numbers. A Tehran doctor quoted anonymously by Time magazine said at least 217 people were killed in the capital on the night of Jan. 8 alone. Activist networks and exiled opposition groups have claimed nationwide fatalities in the thousands. Those higher figures cannot be independently verified and are disputed; analysts caution that they should be treated as possible upper-bound estimates rather than established facts.

What is less disputed is the pattern. “Islamic Republic security forces are again gunning down protesters and killing and disappearing children in a systematic effort to crush dissent,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI, said in a statement. He warned that “a massacre is unfolding behind the blackout.”

The government has not published a nationwide casualty toll. State media have acknowledged some deaths among security forces and described many demonstrators as “rioters” and “saboteurs,” accusing armed groups of exploiting the unrest.

The architects of the crackdown

In Iran’s political system, major security decisions are made by the Supreme National Security Council, chaired by the president but dominated by appointees of Khamenei and senior security chiefs. The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology implements technical orders affecting internet service providers. Rights groups and opposition organizations say those bodies coordinated the Jan. 8 shutdown.

On the streets, the IRGC, its Basij militia and the national police force have led the response. Amnesty and other groups have documented what they describe as routine use of live ammunition, birdshot and tear gas at close range, along with mass arrests and reported torture in detention.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, elected on a reformist-leaning platform, has publicly called for “restraint” and dialogue. But his statements have been cautious, and analysts say real control over the security forces lies with Khamenei and the IRGC rather than the elected executive.

The judiciary has brought serious charges against some detainees. Human rights organizations say protesters are being prosecuted for offenses such as enmity against God, or moharebeh, which can carry the death penalty. At least one young man, 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, was sentenced to death in mid-January in a fast-tracked trial, according to rights activists.

Starlink and a new battle over connectivity

Despite the blackout, some Iranians have remained online by turning to satellite internet.

Small numbers of Starlink satellite terminals, produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, were smuggled into Iran after the company announced service availability in 2022. During the current shutdown, Reuters and other outlets report that activists and some businesses have used those devices, particularly in border areas and in safe houses in major cities, to upload videos, contact relatives and pass information to journalists.

Access is patchy and risky. Iranian authorities have moved to jam satellite signals and track down ground equipment, according to rights monitors and tech experts. Parliament recently passed a law that criminalizes the possession and distribution of unlicensed satellite internet equipment. Legal experts and Iran-focused media say the law provides for prison sentences ranging from several months to five years, and potentially harsher penalties if authorities link the use of such equipment to espionage or “confronting the Islamic Republic.”

Human rights advocates say that could expose some users to the risk of capital charges.

The issue has spilled into international politics. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly backed the protests, threatened “very strong military options” while saying diplomacy is his preference, and said he would call Musk about helping provide internet access to Iranians. The administration has announced new sanctions on Iranian officials and signaled further measures targeting security agencies and entities linked to the IRGC.

European governments, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have condemned the crackdown and the blackout and have said they are considering expanded human rights sanctions and possible terrorist designations for the IRGC.

Russia, which recently signed a long-term strategic partnership with Tehran, has urged other countries not to interfere, echoing Iran’s line that the unrest is an internal matter.

Rights and responsibilities in an “information famine”

International human rights organizations have called for an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigation into the killings and the shutdown.

“Blanket or total internet cuts are inherently disproportionate under international human rights law, and must never be imposed, even in cases of emergency,” Amnesty International said, urging Iran to restore full connectivity immediately.

Digital-rights advocates say the 2026 blackout is among Iran’s most severe, both in scale and likely duration, and forms part of a pattern that includes a near-total shutdown during fuel protests in 2019 and widespread throttling during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.

Those past blackouts have had lasting effects. Independent analysts estimate the 2019 outage cost Iran’s economy more than $1 billion in lost transactions and productivity, and repeated disruptions have driven tech workers and entrepreneurs to leave the country. Business owners say the latest shutdown has once again crippled e-commerce, logistics, online education and banking.

Inside Iran, the blackout has deepened what activists call an “information famine.” Families have struggled to locate detained relatives or confirm whether missing protesters are in custody, hospitalized or dead. Human rights lawyers say they cannot securely communicate with clients. The disruption has heightened perceptions of inequality: while ordinary citizens lose access to messaging apps and global news, elites and state-connected bodies retain privileged channels to communicate and transact.

Prominent cultural figures have also spoken out. In a joint statement, acclaimed filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof described the blackout as a “blatant tool of repression” used to “obscure state violence against protesters,” and urged the international community to help keep information flowing.

As demonstrations continue sporadically under heavy security presence, the blackout has turned the struggle between Iran’s rulers and their opponents into a contest not only over streets and institutions, but over the very ability to be seen and heard.

Whether the government’s effort to seal the country off will prevent further unrest, or instead deepen Iran’s isolation and fuel future protests, remains unclear. For now, much of what is happening in Iranian cities is known only through brief satellite uplinks, anonymous phone calls and the accounts of those who manage, at great risk, to break through the enforced silence.