Limited internet briefly returns in Iran after protest blackout

PARIS - Limited internet access briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, a monitor said on Jan 18, 10 days into a communications blackout that rights groups said aimed to mask a

protest crackdown that killed thousands.

Iran’s president warned that an attack on the country’s supreme leader would be a declaration of war – an apparent response to US counterpart Donald Trump saying it was time to look for new leadership in Iran.

Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years.

The rallies subsided after the crackdown that rights groups have called a “massacre” carried out by security forces under the cover of a communications blackout that started on Jan 8.

Monitor Netblocks said late on Jan 18 that “traffic levels have fallen after a brief, heavily filtered restoration of select Google and messaging services in Iran”.

Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into “riots” and blamed foreign influence from Iran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel.

Mr Trump, who joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, had repeatedly threatened new military action against Tehran if protesters were killed.

While Washington appeared to have stepped back, Mr Trump hit out at supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an interview with Politico on Jan 17, saying it was “time to look for new leadership in Iran”.

“The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,” Mr Trump said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Jan 18 warned on X: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”

As leaders in Washington and Tehran have exchanged barbs, Iranian officials have said calm has been restored in the streets.

Security forces with armoured vehicles and motorcycles were seen in central Tehran, according to AFP correspondents.

‘Cannot just stay silent’

Schools reopened on Jan 18 after a week of closure.

Mr Pezeshkian meanwhile told a Cabinet meeting that he “recommended to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council that internet restrictions be lifted as soon as possible”.

Some users reported access to WhatsApp, while outgoing international calls had resumed since Jan 13, and text messaging was restored on Jan 17.

Fars news agency on Jan 18 reported that the chief executive of Irancell, Iran’s second-largest mobile phone operator, was dismissed for failing to comply with the government’s decision to shut down the internet.

Solidarity demonstrations have continued in multiple cities in recent days, including in Berlin, London and Paris.

Despite the restrictions, information had still filtered out, with reports of atrocities emerging, according to rights groups.

Amnesty International said it had verified dozens of videos and accounts in recent days showing a “massacre of protesters” by security forces.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it has verified the deaths of 3,428 protesters killed by security forces, confirming cases through sources within the Islamic republic’s health and medical system, witnesses and independent sources.

However, the NGO warns the true toll is likely far higher. Media cannot independently confirm the figure and Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll for the protests.

Other estimates place the death toll at more than 5,000 – and possibly as high as 20,000 – though the internet blackout has severely hampered independent verification, IHR says.

The overseas-based opposition Iran International channel has said at least 12,000 people were killed during the protests, citing senior government and security sources.

Iran’s judiciary has rejected that figure.

‘Not be spared’

On Jan 17, Mr Khamenei said “a few thousand” people had been killed by what he called “agents” of the United States and Israel, and Iranian local media has reported multiple deaths among security forces.

Mr Khamenei said authorities “must break the back of the seditionists”, as local media have reported thousands of arrests and rights groups have estimated up to 20,000 people have been detained.

On Jan 18, judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir reiterated that swift trials would be held, warning that some acts warranted the capital offence of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”.

“All those who played a decisive role in these calls for violence, which led to bloodshed and significant damage to public finances, will not be spared,” he said.

Alarm has grown over the threat of capital punishment against arrested protesters, even as Trump said Iran had called off hundreds of executions.

Analyst Arif Keskin cast doubt on Mr Trump’s claim, saying “the Iranian leadership sees executions... as an effective tool to end protests, prevent them and suppress them”. AFP