Iran Restores Internet Access After Nearly Three Months

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the restoration of international internet connectivity following a nearly three-month blackout triggered by the war with the US and Israel, Iranian state media reported on Monday, citing the communications ministry.

According to monitoring organization NetBlocks, ordinary Iranians were cut off from the global internet for around 87 days, with access largely limited to those using expensive VPN services to bypass state restrictions.

Iranian authorities first severely restricted the internet in early January during anti-government protests. The situation stabilized briefly in February before another major shutdown followed the start of US and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February.

It remains unclear how quickly or how fully internet access will be restored. Iran is among the countries with the most significant levels of internet censorship, and the government has been pushing increasingly for the use of a national network in place of the open global internet.

(reuters, mja)