Internet down in Iran amid protests, cause remains unidentified

In an unfortunate turn of events, internet in Iran has reportedly been disrupted in the wake of ongoing nationwide protests over ecomonic downfall in the country.

The Islamic republic is said to be faced with a near-complete blackout, on Thursday as nationwide protests erupted, according to reports from web monitoring firms.

Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity researcher from the nonprofit Miaan Group, stated, "I think we’re at a near-total disconnection from the outside world now," highlighting the severity of the situation.

Rashidi attributed the internet blackout to the government, which allegedly tightly controls internet access. 

Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik—a global internet traffic monitoring company—confirmed the internet outage in Iran, noting that the internet has been in a "near-total blackout" since approximately 11:30am on the U.S. east coast, which translates into 8pm local time in Tehran.

Connectivity tracking organisations such as NetBlocks, Cloudflare, and IODA registered sudden and significant drops in internet access countrywide simultaneously, indicating a coordinated internet collapse.

Cloudflare's head of data insight David Belson remarked: "We continue to see a small amount of traffic, but the country is effectively completely offline."

The protests originally started in late December following a sharp decline in the value of the Iranian currency, leading to shortages of goods and dramatic price hikes.

Reports making rounds on the internet also claimed that some shops in Tehran's traditional bazaar (market) have been closed for 11 days, aggravating public dissent, as covered by The New York Times.