Like many Iranians, Shahhosseini reinstalled an old satellite dish at home, since TV set-top boxes and smartphones were no longer helping her stay informed about the situation in Tehran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed to know where there had been a bombing and where the next could be!\u201d she says, referring to the satellite television news programs that shared occasional warnings from Israel on future attack targets. At the same time, the sale of illegal VPN configurations has soared, as has a more costly service called Internet Pro, used by business owners, other professionals, and academics.<\/p>\n
Shahhosseini wakes up in the middle of the night, when the VPN connection is less congested, and she can respond more quickly to clients. \u201cI get up at dawn to respond to emails from people who also can\u2019t connect during the day. If I\u2019m late, I can lose those clients,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
In her house, the internet blackout has had some positive collateral effects: one of her teen daughters is reading more, another has started a beginner\u2019s sewing class, and is considering learning to play an instrument. \u201cBecause they can\u2019t play video games anymore,\u201d explains Shahhosseini.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, I was always short on time, and now, my life goes at a tortoise\u2019s pace, and I spend quality time with my family,\u201d she adds. \u201cBut it is hard to keep up the spirits of two 14 and 16-year-old teenagers, with no internet and after the trauma caused by the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Government differences<\/p>\n
Amirhossein Jalali-Nadoushan, the spokesperson for the Iranian Psychiatric Association, believes that being deprived of the internet could have serious consequences for young people. \u201cIt could also gradually snuff out the voice of the Iranians, or make it so that other voices substitute those voices in the future who no longer represent the Iranian population,\u201d he warned, as quoted by the ILNA news agency.<\/p>\n
Since April 8, a ceasefire between the United States and Iran has been in place, but it is threatened almost daily by attacks from one side or by disagreements in the ongoing negotiations. Although government statements suggest the internet blackout will not last forever, differences of opinion among Iranian authorities are also evident. \u201cWhat we are experiencing today, including the general disconnection of internet, is not acceptable, nor is it to the president\u2019s liking,\u201d Mehdi Tabatabaei, presidential adviser on public relations, said May 5, according to ISNA, a semi-official, state-supported news agency in Iran. \u201cWith the country\u2019s return to normalcy, which is also coming soon, the internet will return to its normal state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
These remarks from President Masoud Pezeshkian\u2019s adviser came after a conservative\u2011leaning member of parliament, Amirhossein Sabeti, said there was no such prospect in the near future. \u201cIf the internet is reconnected, there is a possibility that some of the mercenaries whose actions we witnessed on January 8 and 9 will organize gatherings through these social networks,\u201d he said in recent days, according to the online newspaper Hamshahrionline.ir.<\/p>\n
Sabeti was referring to the anti\u2011government protests in January, in which messaging apps like Telegram played a key role in organizing and mobilizing citizens. Iranians took to the streets to denounce the economic crisis<\/a>, and the movement \u2014 which gained momentum and called for an end to the Islamic Republic \u2014 was crushed by a brutal crackdown that left at least 3,000 people dead,<\/a> according to the official tally, though human\u2011rights organizations say the total number of victims is double that figure<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ironically, the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association said in an IRNA statement in late April that the most serious cyberattacks to have taken place in Iran, including the hacking of several major banks, actually took place during periods of total internet shutdown.<\/p>\n Ruin for small businesses<\/p>\n The livelihood of more than 10 million Iranians depends on a stable internet connection, and the abrupt blackout has been a disaster for many small businesses. Alireza, 35, runs a kitchen and bathroom furniture company in the northeastern city of Mashhad. \u201cI have been diligently promoting the business on Instagram since 2022. The result was clear in my annual earnings, which went from 15 billion rials [$11,380] four years ago to 40 billion [$30,500] in 2025-2026,\u201d he says in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n But his last Instagram video was posted two days before the start of the war. \u201cI have a showroom in the city center, but I don\u2019t even have a sign on the door,\u201d he says, explaining that her marketing strategy is based on social media.<\/p>\n Since the war began, he has used Iranian messaging apps to make up for his absence on Instagram. But \u201c90% of our followers aren\u2019t on them,\u201d and he has yet to find a viable strategy to keep the business going. As a result, he has had to let go of 17 workers because he has no orders. \u201cSome of the people who were let go have families to feed. At the same time, the price of our raw materials has nearly doubled. I don\u2019t understand why they cut off the internet,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n In Shahhosseini\u2019s case, the image that best captures the impact of the internet blackout on her life as a small business owner is a room in her home filled with shoeboxes she has been unable to sell. Her income has fallen by two\u2011thirds because of the commercial isolation caused by the digital blackout. Like Alireza, her Instagram account was her storefront, and her more than 28,000 followers were her business card. \u201cBut if you don\u2019t post anything new and you don\u2019t respond, in a matter of days, the algorithm punishes you,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Sabeti, the conservative lawmaker, laments that Iran\u2019s existing digital infrastructure has been too weak to cushion the impact of the shutdown. \u201cWe should have prepared our national infrastructure previously, so that so many businesses wouldn\u2019t collapse in moments like this one. Like in China, which has a very solid national network,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In Iran, things are different. For example, schools and universities are using intranet networks developed during the coronavirus pandemic. According to academics, this precarious setup is already degrading the quality of education.<\/p>\n And then there are the invisible harms this isolation inflicts on citizens. For example, Elham, 56, spends her days figuring out how she can speak with her son Taha, 23, who studies in Italy. She had planned to spend the Iranian New Year holidays with him, but the war derailed her plans. It also left her unable to communicate with him through video calls or WhatsApp messages, and she feared dying in a bombing without hearing his voice again. Distressed, she asked a friend who had managed to get a VPN connection whether they could send Taha a message from her home. \u201cI went with my husband, and we were almost like people who had never used a telephone in their lives,\u201d she jokes.<\/p>\n As the days passed, Elham learned through her son\u2019s friends that there was a local messaging and video calling app that could be used between Iran and Italy. \u201cAt first it worked, then it started to fail. When we were online, Taha couldn\u2019t get on. Other times, he was waiting, and we weren\u2019t able to connect,\u201d she sighs.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/XGW55DOCVBELTMT7DPQGYNNHME.jpeg\")
Iranian designer Mehrnoosh Shahhosseini organizes the shoes she stores in her home and has not been able to sell, due to a lack of internet connection.Aresu Eqbali<\/p>\n