Internet Starts to Return in Iran After 3-Month Blackout

Iran's internet connection, severed for over 2,000 hours, showed signs of returning on Tuesday, albeit at a very low level. The country's 90 million citizens have been without reliable internet access for most of 2026, following a blackout that began on February 28, after Israel and the United States attacked Iran. This recent shutdown was preceded by another in January, which was enforced following widespread protests.

The partial restoration of connectivity appears to have been ordered by Iranian government officials, but its permanence is uncertain. Internet monitoring experts from Kentik, NetBlocks, and Cloudflare began documenting the restoration of connectivity in Iran on Tuesday. While some Iranian networks are reconnecting to the global internet, researchers caution that the current level of access is far below the partial restoration seen in late January and February.

Amir Rashidi, a cybersecurity expert with the internet freedom organization Miaan Group, notes that some providers have come back online, but it's too early to predict the outcome. "We do see some traffic coming from Iran," Rashidi says. "Some providers have come back online, but it is still too early to say exactly what will happen.

After the January protests, some providers were also reconnected, but around 50 percent of the country's traffic remained down." Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, adds that mobile networks have not shown significant changes, while some fixed-line providers have started restoring services. The Telecommunication Company of Iran's fiber-optic service around Tehran has seen the "biggest gain." The limited reconnection of internet services comes as the US government continues to negotiate with Iran for a permanent end to the war. The Iranian regime has been working to control connectivity and censor content, building a national intranet to replace the global internet.

However, their digital mechanisms for control often resort to brute-force measures rather than precision instruments. The current internet shutdown was ordered by Iran's Supreme National Security Council at the end of February, while a different group, formed by President Masoud Pezeshkian, reportedly ordered connectivity restoration on Monday. The reconnection process is underway, with the Iranian communications minister stating that it will be completed within 24 hours.

However, the power struggle within the Iranian government and the legal challenge in Iran's High Court may impact the permanence of the restored internet connection. "What we are seeing now is an increase in traffic from Iran, but we need to wait and see the outcome of the power struggle," Rashidi says.