Amid a growing conflict with Israel, Iran has started restricting internet access for its citizens and is reportedly preparing to completely disconnect from the global internet by Tuesday night.
Government spokesperson Fateme Mohajerani stated on state television that the internet slowdown is “temporary, targeted, and controlled,” meant to defend against cyberattacks, based on a machine-translated report.
The move comes after an Israeli strike on Iran on June 12, sparking a sharp rise in both cyberattacks and internet disruptions across the country. Many Iranians have reported being unable to access essential online services, including messaging apps, navigation tools, and even basic internet connectivity. Internet monitoring group Cloudflare confirmed that two major Iranian mobile networks were taken offline on Tuesday. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that even VPNs — widely used in Iran to access blocked platforms like Facebook and Instagram — have become increasingly unreliable.
Adding to the digital crackdown, the Iranian government has urged citizens to delete WhatsApp, accusing the Meta-owned app of being used by Israel for surveillance — an allegation WhatsApp has firmly denied. Telegram, another widely used messaging service in Iran, has also reportedly been blocked.
While there is no official confirmation that Israel is behind the internet outages, NetBlocks, an independent internet observatory, recorded a sharp drop in Iranian internet traffic starting at 5:30 PM local time on Tuesday. Iranian state media outlet Tasnim, which is affiliated with the country’s Revolutionary Guard, claims that citizens will still have access to Iran’s national internet system. However, two officials told the Times that even this internal network could see its bandwidth slashed by as much as 80%.
On the other side, Israel is facing an unprecedented surge in cyberattacks. The cybersecurity firm Radware reported a 700% increase in cyber threats targeting Israel since June 12, attributing much of it to Iranian state-sponsored hackers. Experts warn that these cyberattacks could spread beyond the Middle East. If the U.S. decides to get involved in the conflict, American infrastructure could become a target of retaliatory Iranian cyber operations.
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