Politics Internet in Iran restricted due to nationwide protests
Iran has restricted the internet due to a new wave of anti-government protests. Data from the IT company Cloudflare showed a temporary drop in web traffic of around a third on Saturday.
04.01.2026, 08:44
SDA
On Sunday morning, the volume was almost 15 percent lower than would normally be expected. Many Iranians reported massive internet disruptions on social media.
Iran had also severely restricted the internet during past mass protests - for example in 2009, 2019 and 2022 - as well as during the attacks by the Israeli military in June last year. At times, it was shut down completely - only selected Iranian websites remained accessible.
According to observers, the Islamic Republic's leadership is pursuing two goals by restricting the internet. On the one hand, it is intended to make it more difficult for demonstrators to organize protests. The second is to suppress the publication of reports, photos and videos about the unrest.
The nationwide protests, which were mainly triggered by an economic crisis and very high inflation, have now been going on for over a week.
