In 2026, people in Iran lived through two nationwide internet shutdowns: one during the January protests and a much longer one that began when war broke out at the end of February and lasted 88 days. When international connectivity returned in late May, it did not return equally. A new model emerged in which some approved users get near-normal access while most people remain heavily restricted.

This explainer sets out what happened, how independent monitors measured it, and what "tiered" access means in daily life. Our sources cover events up to early June 2026; we did not find reliable reporting on the situation from August to October 2026, so everything below should be read as "as of June 2026".

Two shutdowns in one year

According to Al Jazeera, a first outage of about 20 days took place during deadly nationwide protests in January 2026. Measurements by the network monitoring company Kentik, cited by Filterwatch, use traffic levels before 8 January 2026 as the reference point for normal service.

The second shutdown began on 28 February 2026, when the war with the United States and Israel started, Al Jazeera reported. Cloudflare, which publishes traffic data through its Radar service, described it on 28 July 2026 as an 88-day shutdown "that had left the country almost entirely offline". Al Jazeera called it the longest nationwide internet shutdown in the world at the time and said it affected more than 90 million people, who were limited to a slow, patchy domestic intranet. The government said the shutdown was needed to keep Israel's Mossad and other "harmful actors" at bay.

How restoration began in late May

Filterwatch, a project that monitors internet freedom in Iran, set out the sequence in its report of 1 June 2026:

  • 12 May: President Masoud Pezeshkian established a Special Committee for the Organisation and Governance of Cyberspace.
  • 25 May: The committee approved restoration, with 9 votes in favour and 2 against.
  • 26 May: Restoration was announced. The same day, the Administrative Court of Justice issued an interim order suspending the committee's resolution.
  • 26–29 May: Traffic began to return.

Independent measurements tell a consistent story. Cloudflare saw the first signs of restoration on 26 May; by 27 May traffic had reached 40% of pre-outage levels. It then climbed as high as 90% before settling at about 59%. Cloudflare noted this was "consistent with the traffic we observed in February", meaning connectivity returned to its already-restricted baseline rather than to normal. Kentik data, cited by Filterwatch, showed international traffic at about 60% of pre-8-January levels by 28–29 May (the report gives both dates).

What "tiered" internet means

Filterwatch calls the post-shutdown situation a "new hybrid model of internet control that combines visible connectivity with continued restrictions on meaningful access". In practice, access depends on who you are.

  • Internet Pro. According to Al Jazeera, this state-distributed service was launched by the Supreme National Security Council. Through it, Telegram, WhatsApp and ChatGPT were accessible, while YouTube and almost all other international services remained blocked. It costs several times the price of regular packages, and some state-linked entities resold access at several times the official price. It was aimed at businesses, university professors, lawyers and other groups the state considers eligible.
  • "White SIM cards". Filterwatch reported that users with these SIM cards, along with Internet Pro users, could reach international sites with little or no disruption, while ordinary users still faced severe restrictions.
  • Everyone else. Ordinary users were left on the restricted baseline. Even the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, admitted inconsistencies in how Internet Pro was implemented, Al Jazeera reported.

What partial restoration means for everyday users

Restored access is not the same as working access. Filterwatch reported that:

  • Network quality stayed poor for the first 48 hours, with disruption to UDP traffic (used by many calls and video apps), unstable TCP connections and DNS problems.
  • Push notifications delivered through Google's Firebase service failed, so apps might not alert you to new messages.
  • Google's SMS verification stopped working for users inside Iran, which can block sign-ins and account recovery.
  • In a Filterwatch survey, 78% of respondents said access was unfair. Respondents reported business losses and reduced income (47.5%), disrupted education (36.1%), reduced access to global news (31.9%) and limited contact with family and friends (30.7%).

What the law says about VPNs

According to RFE/RL, in February 2024 a directive from the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, endorsed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prohibited the use of VPNs unless they are explicitly authorised. RFE/RL reported that the decree did not criminalise VPN use, and experts said it failed to clarify the consequences for those who ignore it. We found no newer source clarifying penalties. Rules can change quickly, so check the current position from reliable local sources or a lawyer.

Practical, lawful steps

  • Prepare account recovery before you need it. Because SMS verification can fail, set up other recovery options where services offer them, such as backup codes stored offline or an authenticator app.
  • Check messages manually if notifications go quiet; failures in push delivery do not always mean nobody wrote to you.
  • Keep offline copies of important documents, contacts and work files.
  • Be cautious with paid "access" offers. Al Jazeera reported resale of access at inflated prices. Unofficial sellers and unknown apps can also be scams or carry malware.
  • Understand what your connection shows. Our What is my IP and IP lookup tools show which address, provider and country a website sees, which helps explain why a service treats your connection the way it does.
  • Verify news from more than one dated, independent source, especially during connectivity changes, when rumours spread fast.

Key takeaways

  • Iran had a roughly 20-day shutdown in January 2026 and an 88-day shutdown from 28 February to late May 2026.
  • Restoration brought traffic back to the already-restricted February level, not to normal: about 59% of pre-shutdown levels according to Cloudflare, and about 60% of pre-January levels according to Kentik.
  • Access became tiered: Internet Pro and "White SIM" users got much better access than everyone else.
  • A 2024 directive bans unauthorised VPN use; according to RFE/RL it did not criminalise it and penalties were unclear.
  • As of June 2026, the situation remained fluid; check dated sources for later changes.