The internet in Iran has been blocked since the beginning of the US-Israel war on the country since February 28, making it the longest nationwide blackout anywhere on record, according to a global monitor.
NetBlocks has said that connectivity to the global internet has been at about 1 percent of pre-war levels since the war. “Iran is the first country to have had internet connectivity and then subsequently lost it by reverting to a national network,” it said on Sunday.
Earlier, Iran had imposed a 20-day internet restriction in January after thousands were killed during protests against the state. Iranians, in the first quarter of 2026, have had only limited and at times slow internet offering basic services.
The monitor did mention that Myanmar, Sudan, and regions including Indian-occupied Kashmir and Ethiopia’s Tigray have experienced longer instances on internet blackout, but none has experienced a state-imposed shutdown at this scale for this period of time.
No wars, including those in Ukraine and Gaza, have been known to “have sent an entire country offline” like Iran, NetBlocks said.
On Monday, the monitor said: “The internet blackout in #Iran is entering its 38th day with the general public now cut off from international networks for over 888 hours. The measure leaves Iranians without access to independent sources of information relating to the war or global news events.”
