Iran's Internet Blackout Deepens Amid Escalating US-Israel Strikes

Iran's internet has plunged into a near-total blackout, with traffic down to around 1 percent of normal levels and connectivity described as "close to zero" as authorities curb access amid widening regional conflict.

Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said connectivity dropped early on Saturday, falling to roughly 1 percent of ordinary levels as attacks unfolded. In a post on X, it said the measure "limits civic engagement at a key moment for the country's future after the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei in US and Israeli air strikes."

Additional data from Cloudflare Radar showed traffic "close to zero across all major regions," with Tehran, Fars, Isfahan, Alborz, and Razavi Khorasan experiencing a "near-complete shutdown." This mirrors earlier state-ordered shutdowns in which international links are effectively cut, traffic falls off a cliff, and the country disappears from much of the global routing map almost overnight.

The current blackout comes against the backdrop of renewed military strikes by the US and Israel, which have targeted Iranian military and command centers. Aside from the sharp drop in internet traffic, reports suggest some official news sites and government digital services have gone offline entirely in major cities.

Iran has a history of cutting off internet access to suppress public dissent or limit the flow of information during crises. Previous shutdowns, including one in January that dragged on for weeks during widespread protests, cut the country off from much of the global internet and made it far harder for people to message, post, or share what was happening.

As with earlier outages, the current restrictions appear to hit international connectivity hardest, while some internal services on Iran's state-controlled intranet may remain partly reachable. The impact isn't just political. Previous shutdowns have burned through millions of dollars a day in lost sales, stalled payments, and disrupted business activity, and the longer the country stays offline, the more likely it is that the financial squeeze will hit both companies and ordinary Iranians.

For civilians, the digital silence means not only isolation from the outside world but also difficulty in sharing information about events on the ground. Satellite-based alternatives such as Starlink have been a partial workaround during past shutdowns, but authorities have moved to jam or seize such equipment, according to reports, further choking off options for external communication.

Separately, AWS said over the weekend that "objects" struck a datacenter in its UAE-based me-central-1 region, triggering a fire and knocking multiple availability zones offline. While separate from Iran's shutdown, the incident, which Amazon described as a "localized power issue," has added to the region's broader connectivity headaches.

This latest shutdown represents one of the most severe internet blackouts Iran has experienced, effectively isolating the country from global communications at a critical moment. The timing suggests authorities are deliberately using internet restrictions as a tool to control information flow during military operations, preventing both internal coordination and external reporting of events as they unfold.

The economic consequences of such prolonged disconnection are substantial. Iranian businesses that rely on international trade, digital payments, and online services face immediate revenue losses. The country's growing tech sector, which has been developing domestic alternatives to Western platforms, now finds itself cut off from global markets and collaborators.

For the international community, the blackout creates a significant information vacuum. Without reliable internet access, verifying reports of military actions, civilian casualties, or humanitarian needs becomes exponentially more difficult. This lack of transparency can complicate diplomatic efforts and make it harder to assess the full impact of the ongoing conflict.

Historical patterns suggest this blackout could persist for weeks or even months, depending on how the military situation develops. Previous Iranian internet shutdowns have lasted anywhere from days to over a month, with authorities gradually restoring access as tensions subside or as they determine the strategic value of reconnection.

The use of internet shutdowns as a tool of control and warfare represents a troubling escalation in how digital infrastructure is weaponized during conflicts. As more aspects of daily life, commerce, and governance move online, the ability to simply "turn off" a nation's connection to the global internet becomes an increasingly powerful instrument of state power.