Erbil, Kurdistan Region - The Iranian public has endured 54 days of an internet blackout, severely disrupting businesses and limiting people’s ability to communicate with loved ones inside the country and abroad. The shutdown, widely described as the longest state-imposed digital blackout on a population, has been criticized for restricting access to information and obscuring human rights concerns.
Even more so, it appears to be increasingly exposing fissures within Iran’s ruling elites over whether to maintain or ease the restrictions. Officials affiliated with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are increasingly raising concerns about the restrictions, while those aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the broader intelligence and security establishment seemingly favor maintaining or even institutionalizing them, advocating for access to be limited only to authorized users.
Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy communications officer at Pezeshkian’s office, said on Wednesday that “if any decisions were made to restrict communications in response to the country’s extraordinary circumstances and wartime requirements, they are purely situational and temporary.” He vowed that “once this situation passes, access to the international internet - as a natural right of all citizens - will be restored with better quality than before.”
Pezeshkian’s press officer further noted that “what has become known as ‘tiered internet’ or ‘pro internet’ is entirely inconsistent and in conflict with the policies … and views of the president.”
The tiered internet system, along with the so-called “internet pro” referenced by Tabatabaei, reflects a permission-based model tied to Iran’s National Information Network (NIN), effectively creating a tightly-controlled digital environment.
Under this system, users must undergo identity verification - often through professional or vocational credentials - and, in some cases, pay substantial activation fees to gain broader internet access. Access is selectively granted to groups such as members of the chamber of commerce, university professors, and physicians, while others face significantly higher costs for international traffic compared to domestic use.
Critics argue that the latter model transforms internet connectivity into a privilege reserved for approved or economically essential users, rather than a universal public service.
As restrictions persist, Iranian businesses continue to suffer heavy losses, with many nearing collapse.
Afshin Kolahi, an official from Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce, warned in mid-April that “the direct damage from the internet shutdown is estimated at $30 - 40 million per day,” adding that indirect losses could be even higher, reaching approximately $80 million daily.
Meanwhile, authorities behind the shutdown have granted limited internet access to select individuals, namely those seen as supportive of the IRGC.
During a meeting on Wednesday with Communications and Information Technology Minister Sattar Hashemi, First Vice President Mohammadreza Aref - another close aide of Pezeshkian - stressed that “equal and non-discriminatory access to the internet must be provided for all segments of society,” reaffirming that a tiered system is incompatible with the government’s justice-oriented approach.
“The internet has become a basic need and must be recognized as a public right for all citizens,” Aref added.
For his part, Hashemi remarked that “fair access to the internet is the right of all people,” adding, “even from a security perspective, access should not be restricted through classification or whitelist systems.”
The term “whitelist” is widely understood to refer to a select group of individuals granted unrestricted internet access, often based on professional status or perceived alignment with state narratives.
The shutdown has also deepened social strain. Millions of Iranians living abroad remain uncertain about the safety and well-being of their families, often forced to pay exorbitant prices for limited connectivity through VPN services.
Further underscoring the contradictions, reports suggest that state-linked entities and individuals connected to the security apparatus control a multibillion-dollar VPN market. While restricting free access to the global internet, authorities are accused of fueling demand for paid circumvention tools - profits from which allegedly flow back to organizations tied to the IRGC or the intelligence ministry.
In recent months, thousands have been detained by the latter two for accessing the global internet without authorization, including through satellite services such as Starlink, which provide high-speed connectivity.
In the lead-up to his election in June 2024, Pezeshkian pledged to expand digital freedoms.
“We must have free internet access,” the Iranian president said. “If I am elected, I will stand against filtering and revive businesses that have been shut down.”
Despite his promises, the president and his cabinet appear to lack the authority to restore nationwide connectivity, prompting many to question whether Pezeshkian and his cabinet have the authority to challenge the security establishment’s control over internet access.
“The president has no authority in this regard, but just so you know, the blow that the 2018 Telegram filtering, the 2019 internet shutdown, and the widespread filtering over the past two years have dealt to businesses is beyond reparation,” Vahid Farid, a full-stack developer said on X. “Public trust in domestic products has been catastrophically destroyed, and it might take a 20-year plan to partially repair it.”
Iranian authorities first initiated the internet blackout on February 28, the same day the US and Israel launched a preemptive air campaign against Iran, targeting more than 17,000 sites across the country over six weeks of hostilities before the warring sides agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, which halted fighting to allow space for talks.
Despite the truce, the internet blackout has since remained in place, affecting the country’s population of over 93 million with Tehran restricting connectivity to its national intranet - a system that was developed over the past 16 years and is closely monitored by intelligence services and linked to the IRGC.
Of note, the latest shutdown marked the third in less than 12 months, after a near-total blackout during the 12-day war with Israel in June and a 21-day disruption that overlapped with the nationwide pro-reform protests in January.
Further complicating the situation is that the current power struggle between opponents and supporters of returning the internet connectivity, follows the killing of former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei (1939 - 2026) on the first day of the US-Israeli aerial campaign against Iran.
Serving as the ultimate arbiter of the country’s political and religious structure, Khamenei was the ultimate power broker between different power centres in the country and made the final decision when differences could not be reconciled.