“A few minutes ago I could open international websites using my home internet provider,” a 22-year-old woman in Kermanshah told reporters on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. She was among the first Iranians back online after 88 days.
The monitor NetBlocks logged a “partial restoration to internet connectivity” on day 88 of what it calls the “longest nationwide internet shutdown in modern history.” State news agencies IRNA and Fars said full international connectivity was back for fixed broadband users. NetBlocks did not confirm that. Home Wi-Fi worked, witnesses said, but mobile internet stayed cut, and some social media still needed a VPN.
Who ordered it
President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered international access returned to its status before January. A body he created on May 12, the Special Headquarters for Organising and Governing the Country’s Cyberspace, voted for it on Monday. The body is headed by First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref, who said “the first step toward free and regulated access to cyberspace has been taken.”
Pezeshkian, seen as more moderate, had wanted the shutdown ended because of the economic damage it caused. His power over the matter is limited, though. Parliament member Yaghoub Rezazadeh said final decisions “rest with the Supreme National Security Council.”
The courts moved fast. On Tuesday the Administrative Court of Justice suspended the presidential decree behind the cyberspace body after complaints asking for its annulment, and all of the body’s decisions were frozen pending review.
Eighty-eight days offline
The blackout began on February 28, 2026, when war broke out between Iran, the United States and Israel. It followed an earlier three-week cutoff starting January 8, which activists said was meant to hide a crackdown on mass anti-government protests.
Iranians leaned on a domestic intranet for shopping, ride-hailing and schooling. Others turned to VPNs and smuggled Starlink terminals. In mid-April, authorities arrested four people, two of them foreigners, for allegedly importing satellite internet gear and accused them of ties to US and Israel-linked espionage networks.
Doug Madory of the US firm Kentik urged caution. “Iran has a long way to go to get back to pre-Jan-8 levels of traffic volumes,” he said.
Online, the relief was plain. “YouTube without a VPN!!! Oh my God, am I dreaming?” one user wrote.
Sources
- Iran Partially Restores Internet Access After Months-Long Shutdown
- Iran Partially Restores Internet After 88-Day Blackout
Sources
- 2026 Internet blackout in Iran – Wikipedia
- 'Greetings after 88 days': Iranians reconnect after long internet…
