Iran Enforces Internet Blackout Amid Escalating Anti-Government Protests

The blackout followed statements a day earlier by the heads of Iran’s judiciary and security services, who warned of tough action against protesters.

The crowds, they said, were diverse, comprising men and women, young and old. Those interviewed requested anonymity for fear of retribution.

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India said it is closely monitoring the rapidly evolving situation in Iran as the country plunged into a near-total internet blackout on Thursday amid intensifying nationwide protests demanding the ouster of the Islamic government. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said developments were being followed closely, even as monitoring groups and witnesses reported a sweeping communications shutdown alongside escalating unrest and warnings of a harsh crackdown by Iranian authorities.

"We are closely following the developments in Iran. As you would have seen, we have also issued an advisory. We have some 10,000 Indian nationals and people of Indian origin in that country," Jaiswal said.

According to internet monitoring group NetBlocks and data from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Outage Detection and Analysis database, connectivity levels dropped abruptly on Thursday afternoon, leaving Iran almost entirely offline. Iranian officials did not immediately explain the cause of the outage, though the government has previously imposed internet shutdowns during periods of crisis.

Protests Spread Despite Threats

The blackout followed statements a day earlier by the heads of Iran’s judiciary and security services, who warned of tough action against protesters. Witnesses told The New York Times that the threats did little to deter demonstrations.

More than a dozen people interviewed by the NYT said large crowds gathered on Thursday night in neighbourhoods across Tehran and in cities including Mashhad, Bushehr, Shiraz and Isfahan. The crowds, they said, were diverse, comprising men and women, young and old. Those interviewed requested anonymity for fear of retribution.

One Tehran resident said protesters were chanting “Death to Khamenei” and “freedom, freedom,” slogans that could be heard from several blocks away in the affluent Shahrak Gharb neighbourhood, which had largely avoided earlier protests.

Fires, Violence And Gunshots

Videos filmed on Thursday night showed government buildings on fire in multiple locations, including Tehran, as protests intensified, the NYT reported. While demonstrations were largely peaceful early in the evening, violence later broke out in the capital, with protesters setting fire to cars, buildings and street objects.

A video verified by the NYT showed fires burning in the streets of Kaj Square in Tehran, with thousands of protesters flooding the area. In Karaj, west of the capital, another verified video showed protesters fleeing after gunshots were heard, though it was unclear whether the shots were fired by security forces.

Khamenei Attacks Trump

As unrest escalated, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed the public, targeting US President Donald Trump. He described Trump as “arrogant” and alleged that his hands were “stained with the blood of” Iranians.

Khamenei claimed the US President would be “overthrown” and urged him to focus on domestic problems. He also accused protesters of acting on behalf of foreign powers, saying they were “ruining their own streets to make the President of another country happy”.

Trump Warns Tehran

Trump, meanwhile, warned Iran against violently suppressing the protests. “Iran has been told very strongly, even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now, that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” he said, referring to any crackdown on demonstrators.

He also claimed that Khamenei was “looking to go somewhere” and said the situation in Iran was “getting very bad”.

Deaths, Detentions And Economic Anger

The protests, which began over economic grievances, have evolved into a nationwide movement against the deteriorating economy and the weakening Iranian rial. Thursday marked what has been described as the largest anti-government demonstration so far, following nearly two weeks of unrest. Protests continued into Friday, spreading across major cities and rural towns, with markets and bazaars shut in several areas in solidarity.

According to the Associated Press, at least 42 people have been killed in violence linked to the unrest. More than 2,270 individuals have been detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The demonstrations began on December 28 with the shutdown of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and have since spread to all of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Information Blackout And Global Concern

Iran has also cut off international phone calls, AP reported, as protesters responded to calls from exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to shout from rooftops and take to the streets. Iranian state media has blamed “terrorist agents” of the United States and Israel for instigating the violence.

Human rights experts say internet shutdowns are a key tool used by Tehran to suppress dissent. “The Iranian government uses internet shutdowns as a tool of repression,” Omid Memarian, an Iranian human rights expert and senior fellow at DAWN, told the NYT. “Whenever protests reach a critical point, authorities sever the country’s connection to the global internet to isolate protesters and limit their communication with the outside world.”

With communications largely severed, the full scale of the unrest remains unclear. “This is exactly why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests,” Holly Dagres of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told AP, warning that the blackout could provide “cover for security forces to kill protesters”.