New Tweets

[🇮🇷] Iran news/views

G   Iranian Defense
[🇮🇷] Iran news/views
68
2K
More threads by Saif


Iran eyes 'permanent split' from global internet, say digital rights activists

Published :
Jan 17, 2026 15:44
Updated :
Jan 17, 2026 15:44

View attachment 23850

Iran has planned a “permanent break” from the global internet, allowing only individuals vetted by the regime to connect online, according to digital rights activists.

Bdnews24.com, citing The Guardian, reported that a confidential plan is underway to make international internet access a “governmental privilege”, citing several sources in Iran.

The US-based newspaper said state media and government spokespersons have indicated that unrestricted access will not return after 2026.

Under the plan, Iranians with security clearance or government checks would access a filtered version of the global internet, while all others would be restricted to the national internet: a domestic network cut off from the wider world, said Amir Rashidi, head of Filterwatch, an organisation monitoring Iran’s internet censorship.

Rashidi told the British daily that authorities “appear satisfied with the current level of internet connectivity, which has helped them control the situation.”

Iran’s ongoing internet shutdown began on Jan 8 after 12 days of anti-regime protests. Thousands of people have been killed, though demonstrations appear to have slowed under a brutal crackdown.

Only limited information has been filtered out due to the blackout, described as one of the most severe in history, exceeding Egypt’s 2011 shutdown during the Tahrir Square protests.

A government spokesperson reportedly told Iranian media that international internet access would remain cut off until at least Nowruz on Mar 20.

A former US State Department official cited by The Guardian said the idea of a permanent break from the global internet is “plausible and terrifying”, while noting the economic and cultural costs would be enormous.

Rashidi added that the ongoing shutdown is the result of a 16-year plan to cement regime control over the country’s internet. The strategy includes sophisticated filtering equipment, enabling whitelisted access to select individuals and blocking others entirely.

The Guardian said researchers at Project Ainita and Outline Foundation, who asked not to be named, noted that China-exported technology likely enables Iran to filter internet traffic, monitor users, and block websites, protocols, and VPNs.

The newspaper noted that Iran’s national internet, accessible only inside the country, allows use of regime-approved apps and services, including messaging, search, navigation, and a video streaming platform.

Iran’s pursuit of a national internet began after 2009, following the brief internet shutdown during protests after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, which revealed the costs of a total blackout, it added.

By 2012, Iran had established the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and refined shutdowns, blocking Facebook, Twitter, and Google during protests while keeping economically vital services running.

As per The Guardian, authorities also pressured online businesses, banks, and ISPs to move infrastructure inside Iran through tax incentives and regulatory measures.

In 2015, researchers using Bitcoin to buy server space inside Iran discovered the country had built a completely domestic internet, similar to internal corporate networks, inaccessible from outside.

The national internet has remained operational throughout the protests, providing the only online access for most Iranians while remaining disconnected from the global internet.

The former US official cited by the daily noted Iran’s current capabilities surpass those of some other authoritarian regimes, but whether a permanent break is feasible remains uncertain.

“The digital rights community is right to raise the alarm. But the impacts of this will be really severe for Iranian authorities, who will bear responsibility for that harm to their economy,” the official said.​
Chainda and Rhusshia have da same curbs too. Hendu-pak k colludz baasturd converts are all about da internet no?
 
Analyze

Analyze Post

Add your ideas here:
Highlight Cite Respond
  • Haha (0)
Reactions: Vsdoc
希望伊朗和它的儿子们理解。伊朗只是伊朗。一个贫穷落后的第三世界国家。没有空军,没有海军。陆军打不赢伊拉克。所有的吹嘘结束了。

现在伊朗迫切地想舔美国人的大鸡巴。但被美国人拒绝了。希望战争能让伊朗理解自己真正的位置。
 
Analyze

Analyze Post

Add your ideas here:
Highlight Cite Respond
  • Khamenei (+4)
Reactions: Egyptian

Iran sentences Nobel peace laureate Mohammadi to six years in prison: lawyer

To be exiled for two years to the city of Khosf in the eastern province of South Khorasan, says lawyer


1770599282590.webp

Reuters File Photo

An Iranian court sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to a six-year prison term, her lawyer told AFP on Sunday.

"She has been sentenced to six years in prison for gathering and collusion to commit crimes," lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that she had also received a two-year ban on leaving the country.

Mohammadi was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for propaganda activities and is to be exiled for two years to the city of Khosf in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the lawyer stated.

Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently.

Nili expressed hope that due to Mohammadi's health issues, she could be temporarily "released on bail to receive treatment".

He added that the verdict issued was not final and could be appealed.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi, 53, has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

In December 2024, she was released on medical grounds, initially for three weeks, due to "her physical condition after the removal of a tumour and a bone graft", according to her lawyer.

However, she ultimately spent much of last year outside of custody, continuing to make statements in spite of her lawyers' fears she could be sent back to prison any time.

On December 12, Mohammadi was arrested in the northeastern city of Mashhad with other activists after speaking at a ceremony honouring a lawyer who had been found dead.

Even behind bars, the Nobel laureate has not been silent, staging protests in the prison yard and going on hunger strikes.

Born in the northwestern city of Zanjan in 1972, Mohammadi studied physics and pursued a career in engineering alongside work as a journalist for several reformist media outlets.

In the 2000s, she joined the Defenders of Human Rights Center set up by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, an organisation of which Mohammadi remains vice president.

She was jailed from May 2015 to October 2020 for "forming and leading an illegal group", campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.

Mohammadi won the peace prize in 2023, primarily for her advocacy against capital punishment. Her children collected the award on her behalf, as she was in prison at the time.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say Iran carries out more executions each year than any other country except China, for which no reliable figures are available.​
 
Analyze

Analyze Post

Add your ideas here:
Highlight Cite Respond

US may ‘unsanction’ Iran oil already being shipped: treasury chief
Agence France-Presse . Washington, United States 19 March, 2026, 19:29

1773968756081.webp


The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, addresses journalists during a press statement with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (unseen) following a new round of trade discussions with Chinese officials at the OECD Headquarters in Paris on March 16, 2026.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that Washington might ‘unsanction’ Iranian oil that was already being shipped, as energy prices soared due to the US-Israel war on Iran.

Bessent’s comments to Fox Business came as oil and gas prices made a renewed surge after Iran hit the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar and threatened to destroy the region’s energy infrastructure.

Bessent added in the interview that the US government could also release more oil from its strategic reserves.

The administration of the US president, Donald Trump, has been scrambling to rein in rocketing energy costs after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Tehran’s retaliation brought commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to a virtual halt, snarling energy supply chains.

Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the critical waterway during peacetime.

Already, international benchmark Brent surged 10 per cent earlier before easing to a 5 per cent increase at $112.76 per barrel.

Recently, the United States also temporarily allowed the sale of sanctioned Russian oil that is at sea. On Wednesday, Trump temporarily waived a century-old maritime shipping law in an attempt to help ease energy prices.​
 
Analyze

Analyze Post

Add your ideas here:
Highlight Cite Respond

Iranians celebrate Eid amid Natanz strike, Trump considers winding down war
Agence France – Presse . Jerusalem, Undefined 21 March, 2026, 16:19

1774141254863.webp

Donald Trump | AFP photo

Thousands of Iranians held Eid-ul-Fitr prayers on Saturday to mark the end of the Ramadan fast amid war with the United States and Israel, which reportedly carried out a strike on Iran’s Natanz nuclear site.

Iran’s supreme leader traditionally leads Eid prayers but Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who came to power earlier this month after his father was killed in a US-Israeli strike, has remained out of the public eye.

Instead, the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, attended prayers at central Tehran’s Imam Khomeini grand mosque, named after the founder of the Islamic republic, which was filled to overflowing, with worshippers in the streets outside.

Iran’s key ally Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Khamenei, ‘wished the Iranian people strength on overcoming these severe trials and emphasised that during this difficult time, Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran’.

According to Iran’s atomic energy organisation, the US and Israel targeted a plant at Natanz in Isfahan province, which hosts underground centrifuges to enrich uranium for Iran’s disputed nuclear programme and was already damaged in last year’s June war.

‘Following the criminal attacks by the United States and the usurping Zionist regime against our country, the... Natanz enrichment complex was targeted this morning,’ the agency said, in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.

No leakage of nuclear materials was reported, it added.

After three weeks of a conflict that has sent world energy prices soaring, blocked the Strait of Hormuz oil export route and strained Washington’s ties with its closest allies, US President Donald Trump said once again that he was thinking of pulling back.

‘We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East,’ Trump posted on social media.

The White House press secretary said the Pentagon was looking at four to six weeks to complete its mission.

Nevertheless, according to US media reports, Washington is deploying thousands more marines to the Middle East, in a possible sign of a ground operation, and Iran continues to carry out strikes on both Israel and its oil and gas-rich Gulf neighbours.

After Iranian missile fire at Israel overnight, the Israeli military said it had carried out strikes on what it called ‘regime targets’ in Iran’s capital, which has been under bombardment since a US-Israeli attack started the war on February 28.

Beyond the Gulf, the war has spread to Lebanon where the Israeli military has carried out regular bombardments in response to rocket fire by Iran ally Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said it launched a wave of strikes against ‘Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets’ in the Lebanese capital early Saturday.

It had called on residents to evacuate parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

In southern Lebanon, close to the border, state media reported an ‘extensive’ Israeli operation around the town of Khiam and said an Israeli airstrike killed at least one person.

Lebanon’s health ministry says the war has killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than one million, while Israel’s army says two soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon.

As concerns grow over oil prices and global supply shortages, the US Treasury said it was temporarily lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels.

The authorisation allows for the delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products loaded onto ships before March 20 and will last through April 19.

As energy analysts and consumers count the cost of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf, including the world’s largest liquefied natural gas hub, Trump slammed NATO allies as ‘cowards’ and called on them to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has choked the channel, which is crucial for around a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas during peacetime.

‘The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it -- The United States does not!’ he said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had imposed restrictions on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran but would offer assistance to others.

The standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with a barrel of North Sea Brent crude up more than 50 percent over the past month and now comfortably more than $105 a barrel.​
 
Analyze

Analyze Post

Add your ideas here:
Highlight Cite Respond

Latest Posts

Back
PKDefense - Recommended Toggle