Iran continues to shut down its internet after attacks by Israel and the US, but citizens are using Starlink and VPNs to circumvent the shutdown

On February 28, 2026 local time, Israel launched a joint attack with the United States on Iran . This resulted inthe death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , and the death toll in Iran is reported to have reached 787, including children , at the time of writing. Iran's retaliatory strikes have also inflicted damage on neighboring countries. Meanwhile, a large-scale internet blackout continues across Iran.

Iran's internet blackout enters fourth day amid reports of cyberattacks
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/02/irans-internet-down-amid-reports-of-us-israel-cyberattacks.html

Internet blackout is tool of desperate regime to isolate Iranians, say experts | Iran | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/02/internet-blackout-regime-iranians-experts-digital-censorship

Iran Airstrike Videos Emerge as Citizens Evade Internet Blackout - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-02/iranians-evade-internet-blackout-to-share-images-of-airstrikes

Iran's internet was shut down about four hours after the Israeli and US attacks, and has affected the population for over 72 hours as of the time of writing. Internet monitoring group NetBlocks believes the shutdown was initiated by the Iranian government, but the government has not commented on it.

Data shared by NetBlocks shows that Iran's internet connectivity is at around 1% of normal levels.

⚠️ Update: #Iran 's internet blackout has entered its fourth day, with the national censorship measure now in place for over 72 hours.

The silencing of authentic Iranian voices is fueling a surge in misinformation as pro-regime accounts fill the void with their own narrative. pic.twitter.com/OSO2KOuLoH

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 3, 2026

Regarding the limited internet connectivity, internet analyst Doug Madley points out that this may be related to people the Iranian government has designated as 'whitelisted' as being loyal to the government.

As was the case with last month's internet shutdown in Iran, a small amount of traffic continues to make its way into the country.

The country's recently-developed system of whitelisting enables exceptions to internet blocks for people loyal to the govt. pic.twitter.com/gxbsJM1sRz

— Doug Madory (also on Bluesky) (@DougMadory) February 28, 2026

Iran has strict internet censorship, and when it suppressed protests that began in late 2025, it blocked internet access within Iran.

Internet outage across Iran, government interference in protests? - GIGAZINE

However, some have pointed out that the current internet shutdown is not entirely the work of the Iranian government, and that external forces may also have been involved. Catherine Raines, cyber threat intelligence team leader at the information platform Flashpoint, told CNBC, 'The actual cause is still unknown, but it is almost certainly a combination of state-mandated suppression and external cyber interference.'

Raines pointed out that the Iranian government has a long history of censoring domestic speech and cutting off internet access to crack down on public safety, but added that the US and Israel were conducting parallel cyber operations to deliberately target communications infrastructure in order to disrupt the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ' command and control network.

Analysts say an internet shutdown in Iran is likely to add to the chaos by preventing residents from contacting family, recording events in the country and getting real-time information about the conflict.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that some Iranians are using SpaceX's Starlink devices, VPNs, and decentralized messaging networks to circumvent the internet shutdown. Those with access to these services are taking photos and videos of missiles hitting military facilities, police stations, and other locations, and sharing them on social media and Telegram.

Fereydoun Bashar, executive director of ASL19 , an independent organization that fights digital authoritarianism, said many citizens are able to send and receive information through private networks and decentralized messaging apps that run on Starlink. 'The community has been working in concert over the past two months to build up resources and capacity, so we are well prepared for this shutdown,' he said.