An internal bureaucratic battle within the Islamic Republic has culminated in the looming collapse of Iran's sweeping digital blockade.
Iran International reported on Monday that President Masoud Pezeshkian has officially issued an executive directive to dismantle the months-long international web blackout, forcing even hardline paramilitary media outlets to reluctantly fall in line behind the decision.
According to a presidential spokesperson, Pezeshkian ordered the Ministry of Communications to fully restore international internet access to its pre-January status.
Following the directive, ICT Minister Sattar Hashemi confirmed to the Shargh daily newspaper that the technical process of reconnecting the country to the global network had already commenced, while the semi-official ISNA news agency projected that the order would be fully implemented by Tuesday.
The internet blackout began on January 8 as anti-regime protests continued across the Islamic Republic and a brutal crackdown on the demonstrations ensued. The blackout was temporarily lifted and then restored.
The decision on a rollback of the blackout exposes fractures between Iran's executive branch and the defense apparatus. Initially, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Fars news agency mounted a public challenge to the legality of the move. The hardline outlet fiercely argued that because the severe digital restrictions had been originally enacted by the supreme authority of the Supreme National Security Council, only that specific body possessed the constitutional power to formally reverse them.
However, in a striking about-face hours later, the news agency dramatically softened its tone. In a newly published editorial, Fars suddenly characterized the digital reopening as a necessary “technical and security" decision that was destined to occur “sooner or later" as general cyber conditions improved.
Seeking to justify the months of digital isolation inflicted upon the Iranian populace, the paramilitary outlet claimed that the restrictions had originally been imposed to prevent cyber espionage and protect critical infrastructure during wartime conditions and an unprecedented wave of cyberattacks. Fars further hit back at domestic critics, dismissing efforts to turn the issue into a political dispute while aggressively accusing reformist media networks of exploiting the shutdown to deepen internal divisions during what it described as a “full-scale war."