Tehran has a history of cutting access during unrest, but this time the outage coincides with reported foreign cyberstrikes. The disruption comes as Iranian-aligned hackers and foreign actors reportedly escalate operations across critical infrastructure
Iran remained largely cut off from the global internet for a second day on Monday, as its conflict with the United States and Israel intensified and reports surfaced of co-ordinated cyber operations alongside military strikes.
Connectivity across the country of more than 90 million people was operating at roughly 1 percent of normal levels, according to the independent internet watchdog NetBlocks, which posted the data early Monday. The group said the disruption amounted to a near-total national blackout that had lasted more than 48 hours.
NetBlocks attributed the outage to what it described as a “regime-imposed” shutdown, though Iranian officials had not publicly commented.
“Shutdowns are a go-to tactic for the regime, with the previous instance in January lasting several weeks and masking severe human rights violations,” NetBlocks said.
The January blackout occurred amid widespread protests. Iran has a history of restricting or severing internet access during periods of civil unrest and heightened security tensions.
Doug Madory, an internet analyst, wrote on X that the limited traces of connectivity still visible might reflect a government “whitelisting” system that grants access to selected institutions and groups considered loyal to the authorities.
Reports of Cyberattacks
At the same time, cybersecurity researchers and news outlets reported that American and Israeli actors had carried out cyberattacks on Iranian digital infrastructure, in parallel with airstrikes.
According to a report by Reuters, U.S. and Israeli actors targeted several government-aligned Iranian news websites in hacking operations.
The report said that BadeSaba Calendar, a widely used religious calendar application with more than five million downloads, had been compromised. Users reported seeing messages urging the armed forces to “give up weapons and join the people” and declaring, “It’s time for reckoning.”
United States Cyber Command did not respond to requests for comment. The owners of BadeSaba could not immediately be reached.
In January, Iranian state television was also reportedly hacked, briefly broadcasting speeches by Donald Trump and by the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, both calling on the public to revolt.
Fears of Cyber Retaliation
As Iran launched retaliatory strikes and drone attacks against American and allied targets in the Middle East, analysts warned that cyberattacks could become another front in the confrontation.
Adam Meyers, head of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, said in a statement that the company was “already seeing activity consistent with Iranian-aligned threat actors and hacktivist groups conducting reconnaissance and initiating [denial-of-service] attacks.”
“These behaviors often precede more aggressive operations,” Meyers said.
“In past conflicts, Tehran’s cyber actors have aligned their activity with broader strategic objectives that increase pressure and visibility at targets, including energy, critical infrastructure, finance, telecommunications, and healthcare.”
Whether the current blackout is driven primarily by internal controls, external cyberoperations or a combination of both remains unclear. What is evident is that for millions of Iranians, access to the outside world has once again narrowed to a trickle, as the digital battlefield expands alongside the one in the sky.
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