Iranian authorities are reportedly considering lifting a nationwide internet blackout imposed during the country's most severe domestic unrest in decades. The potential move follows a week of relative calm after widespread anti-government protests were violently suppressed in late December.
Violent Crackdown and Soaring Death Toll
The protests, which began in late December 2025, were quelled in just three days of mass violence. An anonymous Iranian official told Reuters that the confirmed death toll had surpassed 5,000 individuals, a figure that includes approximately 500 security personnel. The worst of the unrest was concentrated in ethnic Kurdish areas, with Western-based Iranian rights groups corroborating reports of thousands killed.
Opponents of the regime have accused authorities of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators to crush dissent. Iran's clerical rulers, however, maintain that armed crowds, incited by foreign enemies, were responsible for attacks on hospitals and mosques. The scale of the violence far exceeds that of previous anti-government unrest in 2022 and 2009.
Signs of Weakening Control: The State TV Hack
In a striking incident that highlighted the authorities' vulnerabilities, Iran's state television was reportedly hacked on Sunday night. For several minutes, broadcasts were interrupted by a segment with the on-screen headline "the real news of the Iranian national revolution".
The hacked broadcast featured speeches by former US President Donald Trump and Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's last shah. Both figures urged the public to revolt and overthrow the Shi'ite Muslim clerical rule that has governed since the 1979 revolution. Pahlavi, who has emerged as a prominent opposition voice, has stated his intention to return to Iran, though his domestic support is difficult to gauge independently.
The Path to Restoring Communications
The comprehensive blackout on internet and international phone lines was implemented in the days leading up to the worst unrest. While it has partially eased, allowing accounts of the crackdown to emerge, a full restoration is now under discussion. Ebrahim Azizi, head of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, announced that top security bodies would decide on the matter within days, with service resuming "as soon as security conditions are appropriate".
Meanwhile, hardline parliament member Hamid Rasaei suggested authorities should have heeded earlier complaints by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about "lax cyberspace". The unrest also drew repeated threats of military intervention from Donald Trump, though these subsided after the large-scale killing stopped.
The potential lifting of the blackout marks a critical juncture for Iran's leadership as it attempts to reassert control after a period of profound challenge to its authority.
