Iran is in the history books as the nation with the longest continuous loss of internet access (over five weeks). Loss of access to the World Wide Web has reached below 1% of the original level before the war began on February 28 due to the United States’ and Israel’s military engagement.
Also, by having experienced a 20-day nationwide internet blackout as a result of violence related to the protests in January, Iranians have spent 65% of 2026 without internet connectivity. Many citizens use the restricted national intranet for basic needs and services through the state media, but access to the global internet is limited.
NetBlocks commented that Iran is the first country to go from being fully connected globally to having access only to a national internet. Other countries (Ukraine and Gaza) that are currently experiencing warfare still have internet access to the world at large, even though they are in the middle of warfare. Other conflicts (Myanmar, Sudan, etc.) that have lasting internet outages do not compare to Iran’s enduring government-imposed disconnection from the rest of the world.
Online businesses in January experienced enormous losses during their shutdown of as much as $10 million loss/day. Because of these losses, many companies are laying off workers. Many tech companies are no longer giving long-term contracts or increasing wages to their workers; instead, they have moved to short-term contracts or are offering no increases while working towards reducing the number of layoffs they have had to do. The infrastructure of the country has been badly damaged, resulting in inflation and high unemployment. Only those that are “whitelisted” by the government will be allowed to access the internet, even through the much higher-priced “Internet Pro” plans being offered by ISPs and proxy services. Most people rely on phone calls, satellite TV, and the infrequent use of the internet to get updates on current events, while at the same time worrying about having enough power to run the rest of their utilities.
While some government officials and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s Administration have previously stated that they will give the public more access to the internet once the war is over, they have given no timeline on when this will happen. Finally, other government officials are now saying that once the conflict has ceased, there will be a tiered structure for providing internet access, which will greatly increase frustrations within the public.