Iran mulls over lifting internet ban amid state TV hacking

Iran's internet blackout, imposed during the country's most severe domestic unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, may be lifted within days, a senior parliament member announced on Monday.

This potential restoration of communications follows a week of relative calm after widespread anti-government protests were violently suppressed.

The period of unrest also saw state television reportedly hacked on Sunday night, briefly broadcasting speeches by US President Donald Trump and the exiled son of Iran's last shah, urging public revolt – an incident seen as a sign of the authorities' weakening grip.

The protests, which began in late December, were quelled in three days of mass violence.

An anonymous Iranian official informed Reuters that the confirmed death toll surpassed 5,000, including 500 security personnel, with the worst unrest concentrated in ethnic Kurdish areas.

Western-based Iranian rights groups similarly report thousands killed.

open image in gallery

Opponents accuse authorities of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators to crush dissent. Conversely, Iran's clerical rulers maintain that armed crowds, incited 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.

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.

open image in gallery

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.