Iranian telecom head claims internet to soon be restored after protest blackout
State-linked news agency reports security council approved reconnection of internet, which Iran cut off earlier this month as it launched deadly crackdown on demonstrations
The head of Iran’s telecom company told local media on Saturday that internet service would be restored “today or tomorrow,” the Fars news agency reported.
It also reported that the Supreme National Security Council had on Friday night approved the reconnection of the internet and notified the communications ministry.
“God willing, this issue will be resolved today or tomorrow,” Behzad Akbari, chief executive of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Company, was quoted as saying by Fars.
The company is responsible for telecoms across Iran.
Fars reported a brief resumption of international internet access, which “was cut off again after about 30 minutes.”
Internet monitor Netblocks also registered the brief restoration of connectivity.
The agency said communications ministry officials told Fars that restoring connectivity would take time “due to technical complexities.”
Iran cut its digital connections to the rest of the world on January 8 during major protests that were sweeping across the country.
Under the cover of the blackout, Iranian authorities launched a deadly crackdown on protesters, with rights groups documenting several thousand dead and the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying the final figure could top 25,000.
The Iranian government has put the toll at 3,117, including 2,427 it has labelled “martyrs,” a term used to distinguish members of the security forces and innocent bystanders from those described by authorities as “rioters” incited by the US and Israel.
Earlier on Saturday, Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian and a government adviser, called for connectivity to be restored.
He said, “Keeping the internet shut will create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.”
“This means those who were not and are not dissatisfied will be added to the list of the dissatisfied,” he wrote in a Telegram post that was later picked up by the official IRNA news agency.
Such a risk, he said, was greater than that of a return to protests if connectivity were restored.
The Times of Israel Community.