Iran has imposed a near-total internet shutdown and disrupted telephone services across large parts of the country as nighttime protests escalated in Tehran and other cities early on January 9.

Data from monitoring group NetBlocks showed connectivity collapsing shortly after crowds responded to a call by exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi to gather at 8pm local time. Bne IntelliNews can confirm that usually accessed websites including those of government departments have all gone offline.

British-based group NetBlocks said its live metrics showed Iran “in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout”, with traffic dropping to a fraction of normal levels across multiple providers.

Earlier, bne IntelliNews previously reported internet infrastructure company Cloudflare and the IODA project at the Georgia Institute of Technology reported similar abrupt falls in connectivity, indicating that the country was “effectively completely offline.”

The disruption has affected both mobile data and many fixed-line connections, with users in Tehran and provincial cities losing access as protests gathered pace against economic hardship and the clerical establishment.

Telephone services have also been hit, with attempts to call landlines and mobile phones in Iran from Dubai and other locations failing to connect, raising concerns that authorities have restricted parts of the national network.

Iranian expatriates trying to connect with their family and friends in Tehran were unable to connect either via VOIP services like FaceTime, WhatsApp or through more traditional landlines.

Following the disconnections, “Javad”, an Iranian expatriate in Sydney, Australia, said that he had tried to call his siblings and friends but all lines between the countries had been disconnected, bne IntelliNews discovered from a lengthy interview.

He added that, the protests from what he could see from social media were not as large as 2022, but still substantial in the early hours of 2026.

“We continue to see a small amount of traffic, but the country is effectively completely offline,” David Belson, head of data insight at Cloudflare, said, according to TechCrunch on January 8.​