Iran has begun a massive internet shutdown of its citizens, citing the need to counter potential Israeli cyberattacks. The government said the restrictions were "temporary, targeted, and controlled," The Verge reports.
These measures were introduced against the backdrop of an escalation of the conflict with Israel, which intensified after Israel's strike on Iran on June 12, 2025. At the same time, there are growing complaints from the civilian population about the complete or partial lack of access to basic digital services: messengers, maps and even regular internet. According to Cloudflare, the country's two major mobile operators have practically stopped working. VPN services, with which Iranians usually bypass government blocks, have also become almost inaccessible.
The Iranian government has also been actively urging its citizens to delete WhatsApp, accusing it of collaborating with Israel and espionage. No evidence has been provided, and WhatsApp's parent company, Meta, has strongly denied the allegations. There are also reports that Telegram, another key messenger, has been blocked in Iran.
Officially, the accusations against Israel of disabling the infrastructure have not been confirmed, but analysts from NetBlocks noticed a significant drop in the volume of Internet traffic from Iran on June 17. Iranians are expected to be able to use only the internal state network, which, according to some reports, will operate with a bandwidth limit of up to 80%.
Meanwhile, Israel itself has seen a sharp increase in cyberattacks — up 700% since June 12, according to Radware. Experts believe this is the result of Iranian state hacking. US national security experts warn that if the situation worsens, American companies could be targeted by cyberattacks, and if the US intervenes directly, critical infrastructure could be targeted.