As peace talks between Islamic Republic officials and the United States continue in Switzerland, more than 75 million internet users inside Iran are still struggling with heavily restricted online access.
Although connectivity has been slowly returning over the past four weeks following an 88-day nationwide blackout — described by outside monitors as one of the longest ever recorded — users say the current internet environment looks nothing like what it was before the January 8 shutdown and the violent crackdown on protesters that came with it.
Users report that internet speeds have dropped even further, and reaching popular platforms like Instagram and TikTok remains nearly impossible, even when using various VPN services to try to get around the restrictions.
A source with knowledge of Iran’s communications sector told The Media Line that the government has restored internet access under conditions set by the Supreme National Security Council on the Supreme Council of Cyberspace.
“One of the main conditions was that the quality of access to, and control over, the global internet be altered in such a way that it becomes far more manageable and controllable,” the source said. “VPNs are also being heavily monitored and tracked, and in practice, bypassing censorship has become considerably more difficult than before.”
The source added that surveillance aimed at updating blocklists has intensified on an hour-by-hour basis, and that virtually all workarounds proposed by internet platforms and activists are monitored continuously in real time, drastically shortening how long any such solution remains effective.
According to the source, the only truly effective solution would be widespread access to Starlink for millions of people. If house-to-house networks were established at that scale, it would make government tracking of Starlink usage far more difficult. Currently, an estimated half a million people — mostly in northern Tehran — have access to Starlink, but users risk being identified if they access domestic websites while connected. Security agencies have also set traps targeting those seeking Starlink equipment, fueling distrust among potential users.
In recent weeks, raids by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, police, and the Ministry of Intelligence on private homes to seize Starlink equipment have increased, with some confrontations resulting in injuries or even deaths.
The restoration of internet access has allowed new images and testimony from the January crackdown to surface online, including some deeply disturbing videos. However, the Islamic Republic’s security agencies have also used the reconnection to hunt down opponents and those communicating with journalists abroad or sending information to foreign media outlets.
Niko, a young protester in Tehran, told The Media Line that the Islamic regime has imposed sweeping controls that have made online content and social media far less accessible than before the blackout. Despite the risks of contacting foreign journalists, she said that while the government claims it has restored internet access, speeds have been throttled to the point that VPNs that worked reasonably well just months ago are now practically useless.
“At the same time, if you used government-approved applications while your VPN was active, you could be immediately identified, and they could cut off your access. The money you paid for the VPN would effectively be wasted,” she said.
In her most recent message — sent while the Islamic Republic and the United States were again engaged in hostilities despite a ceasefire — Niko expressed deep concern about another potential shutdown. “If they cut the internet again, our situation will become even worse. The next step for the Islamic Republic will probably be to take away our mobile phones,” she said.
While Iranian officials have acknowledged the economic toll of internet restrictions, communication with human rights and civil society activists inside the country remains severely limited. Many have faced threats and intimidation intended to silence them. Although the internet has not been officially shut down again, sources say the level of repression has grown even more severe than it was before the January crackdown.
Tara Dachek, a human rights activist based in Canada, told The Media Line that the situation in Iran has moved beyond simple censorship. “The scope of filtering has expanded to such an extent that communications that were previously possible can no longer be achieved,” she said.
Dachek noted that many people cannot afford Starlink due to its rising cost, and that smuggling the equipment into the country has become harder and now carries stiffer penalties.
She also described Iran’s so-called tiered internet system, in which users are divided into categories with vastly different levels of access. At the top are individuals — typically affiliated with intelligence institutions — who enjoy completely unrestricted access and use it to monitor activists, build fake networks, infiltrate opposition groups, and sow divisions among critics of the government. The next tier consists of regime agents and officials who can access most internet content, with the exception of certain blacklisted sites, and are tasked with propaganda and routine government operations. A third group, described as insiders benefiting from a form of “white internet,” faces more restrictions but can still reach platforms such as X.
At the bottom of this hierarchy are ordinary citizens, who make up the overwhelming majority of users. They can access almost nothing beyond government-approved content and Islamic Republic applications, where monitoring can be carried out with relative ease.
Dachek said this classification system is the core of the problem — it determines which voices inside Iran are allowed to be heard and which are silenced.
High-profile figures including rapper Toomaj Salehi, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, and civil rights activists such as Sepideh Qolian have faced extensive threats. Some users who posted content on Instagram that could be read as criticism of the war have shared images of judicial summonses ordering them to appear before Revolutionary Prosecutors’ Offices.
Meanwhile, CITNA, a website focused on information technology news in Iran, has reported that 68% of active Instagram users have still not returned to the platform since internet access was restored. Users say commonly available VPN services still fail to provide reliable access to Instagram, which has been restricted since the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in 2022.
Beyond political repression, internet shutdowns in Iran have been linked to rising levels of depression among young people. Research presented at the Global Communication Association conference in Casablanca last year found that internet filtering in Iran contributes to increased depression and hopelessness among young Iranians.
While digital freedom remains a core demand for many Iranians, shutdowns also carry risks for the authorities themselves — by stoking public anger and driving political frustration from online spaces into street protests. That concern was echoed on Sunday by President Masoud Pezeshkian, who warned that if people reach the limits of their endurance, they will once again flood the streets.
