In the wake of the recent anti-government protests that rocked Iran, a senior parliamentarian has announced that the country’s internet blackout may be lifted within days. This potential restoration of communication follows a week of relative calm after the widespread demonstrations were violently suppressed.
The protests, which began in late December, were quelled in three days of mass violence. An anonymous Iranian official has informed Reuters that the confirmed death toll surpassed 5,000, including 500 security personnel, with the worst unrest concentrated in ethnic Kurdish areas. Western-based Iranian rights groups similarly report thousands killed.
Opponents have accused the authorities of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators to crush dissent. Conversely, Iran’s clerical rulers maintain that armed crowds, incited by foreign enemies, attacked hospitals and mosques.
The death toll dwarfs those of previous bouts of anti-government unrest put down by the authorities in 2022 and 2009. The violence drew repeated threats from former US President Donald Trump to intervene militarily, although he has since backed off since the large-scale killings stopped.
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said top security bodies would decide on restoring internet in the coming days, with service resuming “as soon as security conditions are appropriate.” Another parliamentarian, hardliner Hamid Rasaei, said authorities should have listened to earlier complaints by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about “lax cyberspace.”
The potential lifting of the internet blackout comes after a week of relative calm, during which state television was reportedly hacked on Sunday night. Screens briefly broadcast speeches by Trump and the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, Reza Pahlavi, urging public revolt – an incident seen as a sign of the authorities’ weakening grip.
Pahlavi has emerged as a prominent opposition voice and has said he plans to return to Iran, although it is difficult to assess independently how strong support for him is inside the country.
The unrest and the government’s response have once again highlighted the deep divisions within Iranian society and the ongoing power struggle between the regime and its opponents. As the authorities weigh the decision to restore internet access, the world will be watching closely to see how the situation in Iran unfolds.