IRANIANS RECONNECT AFTER BLACKOUT, BUT CONTROL REMAINS

Iranians are beginning to reconnect to the global internet after an 88-day shutdown, but early reporting suggests the reopening is partial, uneven, and politically fragile. Reuters reported Wednesday that Iranians returned to platforms including Telegram and Instagram with messages of relief after President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered international internet access restored. The shutdown began on January 8 during anti-government protests and was intensified after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began February 28.

The first visible theme is relief without trust. Reuters reported that many Iranians celebrated the return of social media and outside communication, but users also expressed fear that access could be restricted again if protests return or U.S.-Iran talks fail. NetBlocks, cited by Reuters, said restoration could take hours, days, or weeks in some provinces, meaning the order does not instantly restore equal access across the country.

The second theme is economic damage. The blackout did not only cut off family communication and outside news; it damaged small businesses that rely on digital platforms. Reuters reported that Iranians using Instagram and Telegram for sales, customers, and marketing described lost income and disrupted livelihoods, with some business owners saying they would have to rebuild from far below where they were before the shutdown.

The reopening is also not a full return to normal internet. Wired reported that connectivity has begun returning only at low levels, with fixed-line providers around Tehran recovering more than mobile networks. Wired also reported that the restoration order faces internal political opposition, including a legal challenge in Iran’s High Court, making the future of access uncertain.

Censorship remains in place. Iran International, citing NetBlocks and Iranian reports, said internet access was partially restored after 88 days of near-total isolation, but restrictions remain, including limits on major platforms and continued reliance on circumvention tools. Reuters also reported that WhatsApp still requires VPN access for many users. That means the story is not simply “Iran turned the internet back on.” A more accurate reading is that global access is returning while the state’s censorship system remains active.

The blackout itself appears to have been a coordinated state-control measure, not a normal infrastructure failure. A recent technical study on Iran’s 2026 shutdowns found that Iranian networks were largely kept visible at the routing level while traffic was blocked through centralized null-routing, making the outage harder for some monitoring systems to detect. The study found that 96.5% to 97.4% of tested Iranian prefixes were null-routed from outside vantage points during the shutdown.

The third theme is political pressure inside Iran. Reuters reported that officials presented restoration as a step tied to economic stability and social need, while analysts suggested the decision was partly driven by the economic cost of keeping the country digitally isolated. That matters because the internet is not only a speech issue in Iran; it is also tied to commerce, education, family contact, emergency information, and the ability of citizens to document events.

The immediate question is whether restoration becomes durable or temporary. If access continues improving, Iranians may be able to reconnect businesses, families, and public debate after nearly three months of isolation. If authorities keep major platforms blocked, restrict mobile networks, or reimpose controls during unrest, the reopening may function more like a pressure release than a policy reversal.

Fact-check date: 27 May 2026
Sources: Reuters, NetBlocks via Reuters, Wired, Iran International, arXiv technical research

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