Tehran, Iran – Most of Iran’s 90 million-strong population remains cut off from the rest of the world more than one week after an unprecedented, state-imposed communications blackout amid nationwide protests, which began in December and quickly turned deadly.
The Iranian government abruptly cut off all internet access across the 31 provinces of the vast country on the night of January 8 when protests swelled into mass demonstrations against the clerical leadership, days after shopkeepers first shuttered their businesses in downtown Tehran in protest over rising prices.
Mobile communications were also blocked and people were unable even to call rescue services on that first night.
After the start of the blackout, it took authorities several days to restore an intranet designed to provide access to local websites and services.
It is unclear when or to what extent access to the global internet will be restored. Local phone services have been restored but SMS text messages remain blocked.
Since Tuesday, only outgoing international phone calls have been reconnected. The state continues to send many one-way text messages to people across the country daily, urging them not to fall victim to ploys by “enemies” and to report any suspicious activity.
Foreign ‘elements’ blamed
The government has not released official figures for the number of people killed during clashes between protesters and government forces, mostly on the night of January 8 and January 9. The widely cited United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) put the death toll at 2,615 on Wednesday this week, although Iran’s government claims that is an exaggeration.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday this week, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi denied that Tehran had any plans to execute protesters. During that interview, he downplayed the death toll being reported.
“I certainly deny the numbers and figures they have said. It is an exaggeration, it is a misinformation campaign, only to find excuses, only to do another aggression against Iran,” Araghchi said, adding that the number was being exaggerated to involve US President Donald Trump in the conflict.
While Iranian authorities have confirmed that protesters, including children, women and unarmed civilians, are among those who have died, officials claim “terrorists” and “elements” trained and armed by the US, Israel and their allies are behind all of the mass killings as well as the “riots” that saw government buildings attacked, and public property burned across the country.
The Iranian authorities have not confirmed the killings of protesters by state forces. Instead, they have conversely claimed that members of the Iranian forces were killed, including by being burned or beheaded.
Al Jazeera cannot independently verify the casualty figures because of the communications blackout.
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, and in communications with the UN and international stakeholders, Iranian authorities placed the blame for deaths during the protests on the US and Israel, saying they, in effect, hijacked protests that started peacefully in reaction to a quickly deteriorating economic situation.
The UN has emphasised that violence must not be used against protesters. At the same time, it has also opposed any form of armed intervention amid persistent concerns that Trump could attack Iran as he has threatened to do.
‘No mercy’ for rioters
The streets of Tehran and other cities across the country have been relatively quiet in the aftermath of the deadly protests. But many may fear what is to come.
There is a heavy presence of security forces on the streets, where countless checkpoints and armed patrols have been set up.
The government has also organised massive counter-demonstrations across the country during the past several days and has held public funerals for the killed security forces in many cities, including Tehran.
State television has referred to those participating in these displays “the real people of Iran” while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proclaimed that Iranians participating in state-organised demonstrations “diffused the plot by foreign enemies that was to be implemented by local mercenaries”.
The judiciary has set up courts and said it will prioritise protest-related cases, with Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei pledging “no mercy” will be shown to “rioters”.
Most deadly protests in years
Late on Wednesday, Trump said he had received assurances that the Iranian government would not carry out executions of protesters.
Iranian state media rejected reports by foreign media outlets that a young man had been sentenced to execution for participating in the unrest and could be hanged soon.
In his first interview with state television early this week to address the people after the protests, President Masoud Pezeshkian chose to focus on condemning violent “terrorists” and engaging in economic reform, making no mention of the fact that the entire country remained gripped by a state-imposed digital blackout.
The Pezeshkian administration has begun rolling out electronic coupons worth under $7 per person each month for four months to buy essential goods subsidised by the government as rampant inflation continues to erode public purchasing power.
This is not the first time that Iran has witnessed protests in recent years. People say they are angry about corruption, mismanagement, economic hardship, devaluation of the currency and eroding social freedoms.
In September 2022, a young woman named Mahsa Amini, aged 22, was arrested in Tehran for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. She collapsed while in custody and died in hospital a few days later.
Her death caused national outrage and widespread protests in Iran that lasted for several weeks. The slogan “woman, life, freedom” was chanted in the streets. HRANA reported in October 2022 that 200 people died and about 5,500 people were arrested during those protests.
