Iran expands tiered internet access amid nationwide shutdown

Tehran, Iran – Iran is seeking to provide limited connectivity to approved individuals and organizations as a state-imposed internet blackout continues. The tiered access model currently being deployed is deemed by experts to still violate the digital rights of Iranians.

President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday announced the formation of a new body called the Special Headquarters for Organizing and Directing Iran’s Cyberspace, with First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, a relative moderate, appointed as its head.

Pezeshkian said he expects the 74-year-old vice president to “create institutional cohesion and align policies and measures of relevant bodies,” while “preventing overlaps and ending multiple voices in cyberspace management,” referring to Iran’s numerous media oversight agencies.

Reza Aref is also tasked with developing and implementing a roadmap for “cyberspace governance reform,” and most importantly, reviewing the effectiveness of the Secretariat of the Supreme Cyberspace Council and its subordinate National Cyberspace Center.

This council, which Pezeshkian now wants to reform, is a powerful state body established in 2012 by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to manage Iran’s internet landscape. The council and its current Secretary, Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, have led the heavy restriction of Iranians’ internet access based on “security considerations.”

Pezeshkian’s move comes 11 weeks after a near-total internet shutdown affecting more than 90 million people, following a similar 20-day blackout during deadly nationwide protests in January. Despite economic damage and growing public discontent, the new body does not promise an end to internet blackouts.

Since February 28, when the war with the US and Israel began, most Iranians have been completely disconnected from the global network, which the government says is a necessary measure to prevent Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and other malicious actors. This is now the world’s longest nationwide internet blackout, with users only able to access a slow domestic network supporting state-approved local applications and content.

Virtual private networks and other circumvention tools are the only way to access unrestricted internet services, but they can be expensive and are often disrupted by Iranian authorities. Security forces are also hunting down Starlink satellite internet connections.

The Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s defense policy body, has deployed a state-controlled service called “Internet Pro,” priced many times higher than regular internet packages. It offers users slightly enhanced internet services compared to the general population, allowing access to Telegram, WhatsApp, and ChatGPT, but YouTube and most other international services remain blocked. The service is ostensibly for businesses, university professors, lawyers, and other state-approved individuals, but some state-linked entities are also selling access at multiples of the official price.

Iran’s Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei this week acknowledged inconsistencies in deploying Internet Pro and described it as “a sledgehammer to public opinion,” but also warned that any violations of internet laws must be prosecuted.

Government promises ‘temporary’ status

The government has promised to restore the internet, but only after the war ends, and there are no signs of when that might occur. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani criticized reporters in a press conference on Tuesday after they questioned her about the internet blackout. “When the US president says a ceasefire is being maintained by a thread, what is your answer?” she said. “The country is at war, we must accept that the security of the people is a condition of war,” she added, but asserted the internet situation is “temporary.”

Amir Rashidi, a digital security expert, believes tiered internet access will be permanent in Iran and stems from long-standing policies approved by the Supreme Cyberspace Council after deadly nationwide protests in November 2019. That was the first time the Islamic Republic imposed a near-total internet blackout in the country, lasting about a week, and it became a tool for the government to address unrest. “So far, the main reason it hasn’t been fully implemented is the lack of political will. That political will now exists, and the policy is progressing rapidly,” Rashidi said. He argued that the new cyberspace headquarters Pezeshkian established this week could, at best, provide “a better coordination mechanism in implementing the policies of the Supreme Cyberspace Council,” but in practice, there is little hope for fundamental changes in government policy.

‘Against national security’

A cybersecurity expert in Tehran, speaking anonymously, told Al Jazeera that the internet shutdown has harmed the country more than protecting it from cyberattacks and other hostile activities. Even some government officials have voiced concern over the policy. “Reducing internet access has disrupted the country’s scientific and research communication, and continuing to disrupt the internet for the public will be against national security,” said Hossein Simaei Saraf, Minister of Science, Research and Technology, last week. Saraf wrote directly to Aghamiri, Secretary of the Supreme Cyberspace Council, requesting the unblocking of the PubMed database of the US National Library of Medicine. It was unblocked for Iranians a few days later.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Sattar Hashemi once boasted to hardline lawmakers that domestic messaging apps such as Baleh and Eita have a combined user base of 100 million. Many government and judicial services are provided entirely on these apps, which lack strong encryption or robust security protocols. Disconnecting most global services has forced many Iranians to rely on local messaging applications, giving Iranian authorities greater ability to monitor communications among citizens amid internet access controls.