Lifting of internet restrictions reveals Iranians’ anger over food inflation | Iran
The partial lifting of internet restrictions in Iran has revealed rising anger over food price inflation, as ordinary Iranians decry annual price increases of 308 percent for vegetable oil, 190 percent for chicken and 170 percent for rice.
Iranian authorities on Tuesday began restoring global internet connectivity, which was disrupted on Feb. 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic, as it was during mass protests in January.
Connectivity remained spotty on Wednesday as mobile internet connectivity was largely down and many sites remained restricted. But even partial restoration was enough to unleash anger over price inflation and food shortages.
“Everything is so expensive. It has become a disaster,” wrote one user on social media. “After spending all your savings, you leave the market with a broken heart. It’s unbearable. We don’t have the patience to live a normal life.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is given some credit for lifting internet restrictions, blamed the United States for Iran’s economic woes and said Washington “turned to economic war after failing to overthrow the government.”
In a long statement, the Ministry of Intelligence expressed concerns that internet freedom could be used for “cognitive warfare” and warned that Iran’s enemies aim to “provoke protesters and drag them into the streets.”
The statement said: “The enemy, defeated on the military front, now focuses its efforts on soft war, cognitive war and social provocations.”
The government announced the establishment of a “resilience economy committee” to crack down on price inflation and address growing shortages, but hyperinflation is now widespread in Iran due to trade sanctions, exchange rate pressure and moves in January to reduce subsidies to traders.
Data from the International Monetary Fund showed food inflation has now risen to between 140% and 200%, with overall inflation rising to 70%.
A poll published on Wednesday put support for continuing internet restrictions at just 9%.
Seeking to discourage support for Shah Reza Pahlavi’s son, government supporters attempted to flood the internet with claims against “young people turning to the internet”, where Pahlavi openly applauded the attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States.
Others expressed relief that they could now talk to the wider world.
Human rights defender Emadeddin Baghi wrote: “Three bloody months have passed, but not for those who lost their loved ones or whose homes were destroyed. During this period, our voice could not find an echo outside of some internal platforms, and we spoke and wrote as much as we could to defend the rights of the voiceless.”
Before his release, prominent rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was sentenced to death in 2024 after supporting the 2022 protests, said being connected to the internet “is not a favor to us, it is our right. And without filters.”
He wrote of X: “Like free elections, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of party, and many other freedoms, these are our rights, not favors.”
