'Worst internet shutdown': Iranians abroad fear for loved ones amid blackout back home

It has been a week of dread and despair for Shirin, a young Iranian woman living in Europe.

She has not heard from her family in Iran for five days, after the government disconnected phone and internet services over cybersecurity threats sparked by the war with Israel.

The many text messages Shirin sends each day go unanswered. Her calls are cut off after one ring and WhatsApp threads remain marked with a disheartening single tick – meaning recent messages have not been delivered.

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More than 400 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks on June 13, Iranian state media has reported. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities.

The blackout imposed earlier in the week for the more than 90 million people of Iran has left civilians in the dark about when and where the next Israeli strike might occur. Activists describe the move as a form of psychological warfare in a country all too familiar with state-imposed information controls and internet shutdowns during times of unrest.

“It's like waiting outside an operating room, not knowing anything about how the surgery is going,” said Shirin. “The last thing my dad told me before the shutdown was, 'Don't worry, stay where you are and go on with your life. It's all going to be OK.' But, of course, we're completely panicked.”

She said the last time such an internet shutdown occurred was during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022. Those were among the most significant political uprisings in Iran's recent history, when millions demanded an end to gender-based discrimination. The protests were met with violent repression by authorities.

Shirin is far from alone. Around the world, Iranians are desperately waiting for any news that their loved ones back home are safe, as deadly missile exchanges between Iran and Israel have escalated since June 13, following strikes Israel claimed were aimed at halting Tehran's nuclear programme.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that the change or fall of Iran's leadership was not a goal of Israel's attacks, but could be a result.

Cyber attacks have surged since the conflict began, aimed at Iranian banks and state television networks. On Wednesday, hackers briefly took control of the national TV news channel and broadcast a message calling on people to hold protests, which the network quickly dismissed as an “irrelevant message”.

Prominent internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks said the country had faced significant disruptions since the conflict started. On Saturday, it said internet services partially resumed after a 62-hour, government-imposed shutdown.

These blackouts severely “limit the public's ability to express political viewpoints, communicate freely and follow safety alerts amid continuing conflict with Israel", the group said.

While Iran blocks access to many foreign websites, social media and messaging apps, a wider range of websites could not be reached this week. The slowdown has also reportedly disrupted tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs), which many rely on to access international content.

“This was the worst internet shutdown we’ve ever experienced in Iran,” Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and digital rights at Miaan Group. “Usually, they block access from inside the country to the outside. But in this case, we had no access both ways. We have never had this kind of shutdown before. It meant we had zero visibility into what was happening inside the country.”

He said VPNs were restricted and phone calls from outside Iran were completely blocked, although calls within the country still worked. “There’s been some improvement starting today [June 21],” he added. “But there’s still fear it could come back at any time.”

There is currently a “white-listing” system in place, with only a limited number of websites accessible both inside and outside Iran. “It’s unclear what the exact policy is or how these websites are chosen,” he said.

'Concerning' pattern

Rights organisations have denounced the move to restrict internet access as part of a concerning trend.

“We are deeply worried about the nature and scale of the shutdown, which only adds to the distress of people already grappling with … uncertainty,” Hussein Baoumi, the Middle East and North Africa deputy regional director at Amnesty International, told The National.

“Restricting access to platforms like WhatsApp and other communication tools prevents people from obtaining potentially life-saving information, including warnings about bombings.”

Iranian authorities have cut off internet access at other critical periods in the past. In 2019, Tehran completely shut down access for six days during nationwide protests that reportedly led to the deaths of more than 100 people amid a crackdown by security forces.

“The shutdown also serves to control what can be shared on social media, particularly anything that might challenge the government. We’ve raised concerns about this pattern in the past,” said Mr Baoumi.

Abbas, another Iranian living in Europe, said blackouts occurred every time there was unrest in the country. For him, this reveals the government's true intentions behind the latest restrictions.

“As soon as there are protests, they cut the internet so people can’t communicate, film or share information. They cut it to limit communication with the Iranian diaspora, to block access to information from abroad,” he said. “They cut it because they’re afraid of the people."

The names of the Iranians interviewed by The National have been changed for security reasons