Iran Partially Restores Internet, but Most Citizens Still Restricted

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s government has partially restored internet access after three months of nationwide disconnection triggered by the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel, but restrictions remain for most citizens.

The Iranian government announced last week that it had begun restoring internet to pre-war levels – levels that were already heavily restricted due to a 20-day blackout imposed during deadly protests in January.

The move ends more than 2,000 hours of near-total internet shutdown in the 90-million-person nation, marking the longest national internet blackout in the world.

However, according to multiple user reports, local media, and expert analysis, Iranians’ access to the global internet remains far from fully restored.

Millions of websites remain blocked by the state, and most global services such as YouTube, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Waze are locked and not being considered for restoration.

Mobile, wireless, and fixed-line connections are slow and intermittent to varying degrees, while many domestic apps and services frequently malfunction or fail to load.

Some Google services work, others do not. On Windows, system Wi-Fi constantly restarts due to internet disruptions. Gamers face high ping causing lag and stutter in games.

The majority of citizens are forced to rely on a black market for internet access, where sellers of VPNs or other circumvention methods – often with state links – reap large profits.

After the government partially restored bandwidth, the price of these connections dropped, but the surge in demand for VPNs leaves users vulnerable to scams and malware.

Filter Architecture

After the partial reopening, Iranian authorities continue to impose multiple layers of complex restrictions, turning full internet access into a privilege reserved for a select few approved by the state.

Many data centers have not been fully reconnected, internet protocols such as IPv6 and HTTP/3 are blocked, and UDP is deliberately jammed, according to local media.

An expert told Al Jazeera that many foreign IP addresses are now not entirely blocked but placed in an intermediate “gray” state where connections are allowed to start but traffic and packet volume are heavily limited, causing poor connectivity.

If a connection is “whitelisted” by the authorities, it faces little or no restrictions.

This has intensified criticism of relatively moderate President Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on a promise to reopen the internet.

The reformist newspaper Sazandegi criticized the government for “belated reopening” in an editorial on Saturday, while the state-affiliated site KhabarOnline wrote that “the internet’s technical infrastructure is a victim of the new filter architecture.”

But the Pezeshkian administration is also under fire from hardliners who advocate maintaining near-total internet blackouts. Iranian media reported that some hardline members of the Supreme National Cybersecurity Council attempted to obstruct the process by asking the Administrative Court to order a suspension of the government body that ordered the internet reopening.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani was questioned on state television Sunday, with the host stressing that the court order remains in effect, thus making the internet restoration process potentially illegal.

‘This Is Not the Internet’

Authorities have also not clarified what they will do with the tiered internet system expanded during wartime. Under this system, Iranians receive different levels of access – or no access – based on occupation and other state-defined classifications.

A program called “Internet Pro” offered less restricted access at three times the price of a standard package. A user with this connection through a university told Al Jazeera the service was still working, and their provider had no plans to cancel or refund.

However, state telecom company MCI quietly removed the “Internet Pro” advertisement and sign-up page last week.

Amid the uncertainty, comment sections on state news websites remain filled with anger and frustration over the internet disruptions, which have severely impacted businesses and workers in a weakened economy.

Many have returned to social media, posting videos from the war, including footage of missiles striking the supreme leader’s headquarters in Tehran on February 28. Others shared war experiences, but this has not eased the frustration.

“What we have now is not the internet,” one Tehran resident told Al Jazeera, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s a return to the former semi-blockade, being sold as an achievement.”