The Future of Iran’s Internet Is More Uncertain Than Ever

The Gandhi Hospital was damaged after US-Israeli strikes on a state TV telecommunication tower nearby in Tehran, Iran, on March 2, 2026.Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

For more than six days, almost 90 million Iranians have been living under a total internet blackout. The shutdown comes after Iranians endured a similar total internet blackout at the beginning of January, followed by weeks of limited connectivity while the regime brutally attacked and killed thousands of anti-government protesters. But as the US and Israel’s war on Iran intensifies, the conflict is adding a new dimension to what would otherwise be a damaging but not unprecedented internet blackout.