Iranian authorities may ease a nationwide internet blackout imposed during the most serious unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as signs of strain emerged with an apparent hack of state television, according to a report
Iran may lift its internet blackout within the next few days following a nationwide communications shutdown imposed as authorities used force to suppress protests, according to a Reuters report, citing a senior member of parliament on Monday.
The demonstrations marked the most serious domestic unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Signs of strain in the government’s control emerged late Sunday, when state television appeared to be briefly hacked.
The broadcast showed footage of speeches by US President Donald Trump and Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, both urging the public to rise up against the authorities.
Anti-government protests that erupted in late December were quelled within three days amid widespread violence. Streets across the country have remained largely quiet for the past week.
An Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the confirmed death toll was more than 5,000, including 500 members of the security forces, with some of the worst unrest taking place in ethnic Kurdish areas in the northwest. Western-based Iranian rights groups also say thousands were killed.
Opponents accuse the authorities of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators to crush dissent. Iran’s clerical rulers say armed crowds egged on by foreign enemies attacked hospitals and mosques.
The death tolls dwarf those of previous bouts of anti-government unrest put down by the authorities in 2022 and 2009.
The violence drew repeated threats from Trump to intervene militarily, although he has backed off since the large-scale killing stopped.
Internet to return when ‘conditions are appropriate’
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said top security bodies would decide on restoring internet in the coming days, with service resuming “as soon as security conditions are appropriate”.
Another parliament member, hardliner Hamid Rasaei, said authorities should have listened to earlier complaints by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about “lax cyberspace”.
Iranian communications including internet and international phone lines were largely stopped in the days leading up to the worst unrest. The blackout has since partially eased, allowing accounts of widespread attacks on protesters to emerge.
During Sunday’s apparent hack into state television, screens broadcast a segment lasting several minutes with the on-screen headline “the real news of the Iranian national revolution”.
It included messages from Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s last shah, calling for a revolt to overthrow rule by the Shi’ite Muslim clerics who have run the country since the 1979 revolution that toppled his father.
Pahlavi has emerged as a prominent opposition voice and has said he plans to return to Iran, although it is difficult to assess independently how strong support for him is inside Iran.
With inputs from agencies
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