- Internet in Iran begins to partially recover after 88 days of closure
- However, domestic traffic remains below 50% of normal levels through Wednesday.
- Digital rights experts warn that the historic blackout is far from over
Internet in Iran is slowly being restored after a “near complete shutdown” was imposed on February 28 at the start of the conflict with the United States and Israel.
Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, took to the long-blocked social media platform X to share the news. This came after it was reported on Monday that Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had issued an order to reopen international Internet access.
“In line with the mission of the esteemed president and in fulfillment of the government’s promise, the first step towards free and regulated access to cyberspace has been taken.” Reza Aref wrote in X on Tuesday.
Several internet watchdogs, including Cloudflare Radar, have confirmed the lifting of restrictions on both fixed and mobile connections. However, Iranian Internet experts are not yet ready to celebrate.
Amir Rashidi, Director of Internet Security and Digital Rights at Miaan Group, warned that “the Internet is not connected”, with traffic well below 50% of normal levels. “The volume of network disruptions is very high,” Rashidi wrote in X on Wednesday.
Doug Madory, director of Internet analytics at Kentik, echoed this assessment, comparing the partial Internet restoration to the fluctuating network conditions seen between the first wave of Internet restrictions that began on January 8 and the February 28 shutdown.
Speaking to TechRadar, Madory confirmed that the previous day, traffic volume reached around 41% of normal levels. “This is also lower than what we saw during the partial restoration between January 27 and February 28,” he added.
Full Internet restoration will likely be a slow process. On Tuesday, The Guardian reported that Iran’s Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi had confirmed that internet restoration would occur gradually.
The Internet Shutdown Isn’t Over Yet
People in Iran have been living in digital darkness for 88 consecutive days, marking the longest internet shutdown in the country’s history.
While the easing of restrictions is a much-needed advance, Rashidi warned that “it is too early to say that the lockdown is over,” arguing that the move may only be an attempt to generate “a limited sense of public relief.”
Madory also called the partial restoration of the Internet “a very positive development,” in an attempt to provide “limited relief” to the people of Iran. “But the country is still a long way from returning to pre-January 8 connectivity levels,” Madory told TechRadar.
However, residents are not wasting time looking for ways to reconnect. Proton VPN, a popular free VPN service, has already seen massive spikes in registrations in the country as of Tuesday afternoon.
🇮🇷 Iran Update: Yesterday at 1310 GMT we saw the first sign that Iran’s internet access was starting to decline, after a 3 month internet shutdown, with another jump at 1740. With internet access still heavily censored, @ProtonVPN usage in Iran continues to rise this morning. pic.twitter.com/axx9ofaf94May 27, 2026
According to previous reports, Iran is moving towards a permanent whitelist system. In this scenario, it would mean that the majority of the country’s 90 million citizens would only be able to access a small list of state-approved websites and apps, making using a VPN significantly more difficult, if not impossible.
Kentik data suggests that limited connectivity had been restored to a privileged few, such as government officials, loyalists and select businesses, as early as April.
It remains difficult to determine exactly which platforms are accessible or which connections are completely stable at this stage. Speaking to TechRadar, Madory said he doesn’t expect full internet access to return anytime soon.
Limited connections, Madory explains, can cause VPN services and other censorship bypass tools to fail. “And that may be a goal,” he added.
