Iran’s president orders reopening of international internet access, state media reports
May 25 (Reuters) – Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian issued an order to reopen international internet access after a nearly 90-day blackout following the war against the United States and Israel, Iranian state media reported on Monday, citing an official.
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.
According to internet observatory NetBlocks, as of Monday most Iranians had been without access to the world wide web for 87 days; Only a few citizens have access to expensive and advanced internetVPNs This gets around the restrictions.
Authorities first imposed an internet blackout starting January 8 in response to nationwide anti-government protests; Connections gradually returned to normal in February before a new blackout was initiated following the start of US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
While in normal times access to the global internet remains severely restricted through the 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 now follow an online curriculum.
(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
