Iran’s president orders restoration of internet access

Iranian state media reported that Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian issued an order to reopen international internet access, citing an official, after a nearly 90-day blackout since the start of the war against the United States and Israel.

The report cited the public relations officer of the Iranian Ministry of Communications.

Following the decision, the mechanism for how and when Iran would reconnect to the global network was unknown.

Most Iranians were unable to access the world wide web for 87 days, internet observatory NetBlocks said on Monday; Only a few citizens have access to expensive and advanced VPNs that bypass restrictions.

Authorities first imposed an internet blackout starting January 8 in response to anti-government protests; In February, connections gradually returned to normal, followed by a new outage following the start of US and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February.

While in normal times access to the global internet remains severely restricted due to censorship of many websites, authorities are increasingly relying on the intranet to provide connected services without relying on the world wide web, especially for schools that are now implementing an online curriculum.