By: Fern Sidman

A sweeping internet blackout has engulfed Iran, plunging the country into an information void at the very moment when its streets are erupting with some of the most defiant anti-government protests in years. According to Reuters, citing online watchdog Netblocks, live metrics show that Iran is now “in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout,” a development that has since been compounded by widespread disruption to mobile phone service.

As Israel National News reported on Thursday, the blackout marks a dramatic escalation in the Islamic Republic’s long-running strategy of digital repression—a strategy designed to smother dissent by isolating citizens from one another and from the outside world.

“Live metrics show Iran is now in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout,” Netblocks stated. “The incident follows a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country and hinders the public’s right to communicate at a critical moment.”

The communications clampdown did not occur in isolation. Earlier in the week, Iran International reported that internet access had already been reduced or severed in parts of the country beginning Saturday night. The restrictions were most severe in areas experiencing intense protest activity, a correlation that has been underscored in the Israel National News report.

Cities and towns hit by the outages include Asadabad, Kermanshah, Dezful, Malekshahi, Malard, Marvdasht, Kuhdasht, Borazjan, Mashhad, Shiraz, and significant sections of Tehran. These are not obscure provincial outposts but major population centers whose economic, cultural, and political importance makes their sudden digital isolation all the more telling.

The pattern is unmistakable: when dissent rises, the regime pulls the plug.

Despite the blackout—or perhaps because of it—protesters continued to pour into the streets. In the western city of Ilam, demonstrators were filmed on Wednesday evening chanting “Death to Khamenei,” footage that made its way to Iran International and was highlighted in the Israel National News report.

Other videos circulating on social media, before the blackout tightened its grip, showed protesters in Fars Province toppling and destroying a statue of Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Soleimani, killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020, remains a central symbol of the regime’s military adventurism. His statue’s destruction is therefore not merely vandalism but an unmistakable political statement.

For years, Tehran has perfected the art of digital suppression, developing the technical infrastructure to sever international connectivity while maintaining limited domestic networks under state control. As Israel National News has chronicled, this “kill switch” capability allows the regime to paralyze grassroots mobilization, prevent the spread of videos documenting abuses, and shield itself from global scrutiny.

This time, however, the blackout has been unusually comprehensive. Reports indicate that not only internet services but also landline and mobile phone connections were cut in many regions—a full-spectrum communications lockdown rarely deployed except in moments of existential threat to the regime.

The situation in Iran has drawn sharp attention from Washington. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, President Trump said that in previous protest waves, the Iranian authorities had resorted to lethal force.

“What they’ve done is, in the past, they started shooting the hell out of protesters,” Trump said, according to the Israel National News report, “And I said if they do that, we’re going to hit them very hard… So far, for the most part, they haven’t… The enthusiasm to overturn that regime is incredible.”

Trump reiterated his support for the protesters earlier in the week in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. “I have let them know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots… we’re going to hit them very hard,” he said.

When Hewitt noted that dozens of people have already been killed, Trump responded cautiously, suggesting that some deaths were caused by stampedes rather than direct law enforcement action.

“I’m not sure I can necessarily hold somebody responsible for that,” he said, “but… they’ve been told very strongly—even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now—that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell.”

Perhaps the most impassioned response came from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince of Iran. In a statement cited by Israel National News, Pahlavi condemned the regime’s blackout and thanked Trump for publicly warning Tehran against killing demonstrators.

“Millions of Iranians demanded their freedom tonight. In response, the regime in Iran has cut all lines of communication,” Pahlavi wrote. “It has shut down the Internet. It has cut landlines. It may even attempt to jam satellite signals.”

Pahlavi urged Western leaders to follow Trump’s example.

“I want to thank the leader of the free world, President Trump, for reiterating his promise to hold the regime to account. It is time for others, including European leaders, to follow his lead, break their silence, and act more decisively in support of the people of Iran.”

He concluded with a plea that resonated across social media before the blackout swallowed Iran’s online presence.

“I call on them to use all technical, financial, and diplomatic resources available to restore communication to the Iranian people so that their voice and their will can be heard and seen. Do not let the voices of my courageous compatriots be silenced.”

The events unfolding now are eerily reminiscent of past crises. In November 2019, during protests sparked by fuel price hikes, Iran imposed a near-total internet shutdown lasting almost a week. Hundreds were reportedly killed during that period, many in incidents that only became public months later when the blackout was lifted.

As Israel National News has noted in its coverage, the blackout then allowed security forces to operate with near impunity, shielded from cameras, foreign journalists, and human rights monitors. The present situation is drawing alarming parallels.

The significance of Iran’s internet blackout extends far beyond its borders. Iran is not merely another authoritarian state but a regional power whose actions ripple across the Middle East—from Lebanon and Syria to Yemen and Gaza. A destabilized Iran, or one whose regime resorts to mass violence, would reverberate through an already volatile region.

This is why the coverage by Israel National News has framed the blackout not as a domestic technical issue but as a geopolitical inflection point. A regime that must silence its population to survive, the outlet has argued, is a regime facing a crisis of legitimacy.

For now, the blackout remains in place. Families inside Iran struggle to reach relatives abroad. Journalists are cut off from sources. Activists are unable to coordinate or broadcast what is happening on their streets.

And yet, even as the digital iron curtain descends, the protests have not disappeared. They have simply become harder to see.

As the Israel National News report emphasized, this is precisely why the blackout matters. It is not just about connectivity. It is about whether a nation of more than 85 million people will be allowed to bear witness to its own struggle for freedom—or whether that struggle will be smothered in silence, unseen and unheard by the world.