- Iran authorities issue warnings to residents who defy online blocks
- Connecting to the Internet with a VPN “will be treated as a crime,” they warn
- Iran’s Internet connectivity remains at 1% since February 28
Iranians trying to access the global internet face the threat of criminal prosecution as a “near complete” digital blackout enters its second week.
According to reports from France24, local authorities and telecommunications operators are issuing direct warnings via SMS to citizens who have used VPNs to bypass current restrictions.
The messages warn that repeated attempts to connect to the international Internet will result in blocks and referral of cases to judicial authorities.
This escalation suggests that even those using satellite hardware such as Starlink to bypass the national gateway now runs a significant risk of being arrested.
Police in Iran have sent text messages warning citizens that simply going online will be treated as a crime and prosecuted. Imagine a regime so authoritarian that it cuts off the Internet during a time of conflict, and if someone manages to connect through tools… pic.twitter.com/tRwvVmOi9hMarch 4, 2026
Texas-based digital rights group Filterwatch confirmed the fact and noted that citizens who evade the communications block may face immediate legal action.
Iranian cybersecurity expert Azam Jangravi described the move as a desperate attempt by the state to control the flow of information during a period of intense regional conflict.
Jangravi wrote on X: “The goal is clear: they shut down the Internet so that only their narrative can be heard.”
Internet blackout in Iran reaches seven days
Internet monitoring groups, including Cloudflare Radar and NetBlocks confirm that national connectivity has plateaued at just 1% of normal levels. These widespread restrictions began on Saturday, February 28, following reports of military attacks in the region.
While it is unclear whether the initial outages were caused by physical damage to infrastructure from airstrikes, specific SMS warnings indicate that authorities are attempting to restrict access to the global Internet.
Iran has a long history of cutting off online communications in times of political unrest. According to data from Surfshark, Iran has restricted the Internet 63 times since 2015.
The current closure is the most severe since the Twelve-Day War last June and anti-government protests in January.
Surfshark CTO Donatas Budvytis called the complete shutdown a “brutal violation of human rights,” noting that it plunges 90 million people into digital isolation at a time when access to information is a matter of physical security.
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