Cloudflare Radar’s seven‑day snapshot of HTTP requests from Iran shows a modest rise in overall traffic, a shift toward video streaming, and a persistent reliance on VPNs. While the numbers suggest growing digital engagement, regional bandwidth constraints and heightened censorship continue to shape user choices.
A quick look at the numbers
Cloudflare’s public Radar dashboard recorded approximately 1.9 billion HTTP requests from Iran over the past week. That figure is about 4 % higher than the previous seven‑day window, breaking a modest downward trend that began in early March. The increase is spread across all traffic categories—websites, APIs, and static assets—indicating a broad‑based uptick rather than a spike in a single service.
Where the traffic is coming from
| Metric | Observation |
|---|---|
| Top‑level domains | .ir domains still dominate (≈ 42 % of requests), but global services like google.com and youtube.com together account for roughly 18 % of the total. |
| Geographic concentration | Requests cluster around Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan, reflecting the population distribution and the presence of major data‑center hubs. |
| Protocol mix | HTTP/2 makes up 63 % of the traffic, while HTTP/3 is still under 5 %, showing gradual adoption of newer protocols despite limited ISP support. |
| Device breakdown | Mobile browsers generate 57 % of requests, desktop 38 %, and the remaining 5 % come from IoT‑type endpoints (smart TVs, security cameras). |
What’s driving the shift?
1. Video streaming gains ground
The share of requests to video‑hosting domains rose from 12 % to 16 %. Services such as YouTube, Aparat, and TikTok are responsible for most of this growth. The pattern aligns with reports of increased bandwidth consumption during evenings, when users binge‑watch locally produced series and international content.
2. VPN usage stays steady
Requests that resolve to known VPN exit nodes (identified through Cloudflare’s IP reputation data) constitute about 6 % of the total. This proportion has not changed significantly over the last month, suggesting that while some users still rely on VPNs to bypass restrictions, the overall user base is not expanding its use of such tools.
3. API traffic spikes in the fintech sector
Calls to APIs under the api.* sub‑domain pattern grew by 9 %, with a noticeable concentration on payment‑gateway endpoints. The timing coincides with the launch of a new mobile banking app by a major Iranian bank, hinting that digital financial services are gaining traction despite regulatory hurdles.
Counter‑perspectives and caveats
- Bandwidth caps still matter – Even though total request volume is up, average payload size per request remains low (≈ 85 KB). Iranian ISPs continue to enforce strict data caps, which discourages large‑file downloads and may suppress the full potential of video streaming.
- Censorship influences the data – The Iranian government’s periodic throttling of social‑media platforms can cause temporary dips in traffic that are not captured in a seven‑day aggregate. Analysts should therefore treat short‑term trends with caution.
- Cloudflare’s visibility is partial – Radar only reflects traffic that passes through Cloudflare’s network. Sites that self‑host or use competing CDNs are invisible to this dataset, meaning the true national traffic picture could be broader.
Looking ahead
If the current trajectory continues, we can expect a gradual rise in HTTP/2 adoption as ISPs upgrade their backbone equipment. Video streaming will likely keep its upward momentum, but only if bandwidth policies become more permissive. Meanwhile, the fintech API surge suggests that digital banking may become a more prominent driver of internet usage in Iran.
Data source: Cloudflare Radar – Iran traffic overview.
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