Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
Iranwire – Nearly a month after Iran imposed a sweeping internet shutdown in response to the nationwide protests of January 2026, access remains heavily disrupted and far from normal. Behzad Akbari, the deputy minister of communications and head of the Infrastructure Communications Company, said the ongoing problems are the result of decisions taken outside the ministry’s authority.
In Iran, the Ministry of Communications manages the country’s technical infrastructure, but the power to shut down the internet lies with bodies such as the Supreme National Security Council or the Working Group for Determining Criminal Content. This setup allows the government to frame shutdowns as technical problems, even though the decisions are political and driven by security concerns.
According to Akbari, the Infrastructure Communications Company is not involved in enforcing the restrictions and is only trying, through different channels, to limit the disruptions. He warned that the prolonged situation has seriously harmed the country’s digital ecosystem and disrupted people’s everyday access to online services.
The CEO of the Infrastructure Communications Company also rejected claims about changes to the internet’s architecture, the implementation of a “layered internet,” or the use of “whitelists,” stating that stable internet access is essential for the digital economy.
A layered or tiered internet is a controversial Iranian proposal in which access is granted based on social status or occupation – for example, journalists or professors receiving “better” internet than ordinary citizens. “Whitelists” refer to a system in which the internet is shut down by default and only a limited number of approved, mostly domestic websites are allowed to function, effectively turning the internet into a closed intranet.
Meanwhile, data released by Kentik shows that Iran’s internet traffic is still about 50 percent lower than it was before the nationwide shutdown. Reports from inside the country also point to worsening disruptions and increasing difficulty for users trying to access many online services.
A 50 percent drop in traffic suggests that while domestic Iranian websites such as banking platforms and state media may be functioning, access to the international web – including Google, Instagram, WhatsApp, and VPN services – remains largely blocked. For many Iranians, the internet is not truly “connected” unless they can bypass the state’s “Great Firewall” and reach the outside world.
