Internet blackouts in Iran last more than two months, the longest on record. For the millions of people who depend on being online to make a living, this void has been devastating.
But some have privileged access through “Internet Pro” – and this is leading to widespread public criticism. The program, launched earlier this year, appears to be another weapon enabling radicals and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to establish control in Iran.
Iran’s state media claims unity of the government and people in the face of an “imposed war” by the United States and Israel, but the debate over who gets Internet access has spilled over into the media and spilled over into the highest levels of government.
Iranians talk about growing frustration at being cut off from contact or having to spend what little money they have for occasional glimpses of the outside world.
“Imagine dealing with unemployment and crazy inflation, and somehow managing to scrape together 500,000 or a million tomans (about $13) just to spend on a few gigabytes of VPN so you can access X or other platforms, see the news, and have a voice,” said Faraz, a 38-year-old resident of Tehran. The average monthly salary in Iran ranges between 20 million to 35 million tomans ($240 to $420).
“And then, amidst all this stress and frustration, when you finally manage to open X or Telegram, you see people with unrestricted access behaving like everything is normal, it really feels like a punch in the stomach,” Faraz told CNN.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) service is a tool that hides a user’s location online, and many people in Iran use it through the black market to avoid Internet blocks.
Sales of Internet Pro began in February through the Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI), after businesses complained they were harmed by heavily restricted access during nationwide protests in January. MCI is owned by a consortium with close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Internet Pro emphasizes connection stability and less restricted access to international sites. Essentially, it gives a lucky few the same level of access that was once available to everyone. Users must go through a verification process and have a professional, academic or scientific role.
But many Iranians complain that it has widened the already wide gap between rich and poor.
According to the independent publication Khabar Online, this has “divided Iranian society into two distinct classes: a digital elite that enjoys fast, unfiltered channels for business, education and communication, and digital subjects who are limited by the heavy filtering, restricted speeds and high costs of the black-market VPN economy.”
“The main issue is no longer just filtering or shutdown; rather, it is the redefinition of the right to access the Internet,” Mohammed-Hamid Shahrivar, a lawyer, said in an interview with the Shargh news outlet.
According to Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) based outside the country, the price of black-market VPN apps has skyrocketed, and Iranians have lost about $1.8 billion from losing internet access over the past two months. This matches the estimate of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce.
The newspaper Atelat complained, “The Internet shutdown, which in itself was a source of livelihood for a huge number of virtual businesses – has created a serious and complicated situation.”
Iran has repeatedly used internet shutdowns during periods of unrest, where access to the global Internet is severely restricted or cut off entirely, leaving foreign websites and apps inaccessible. During major shutdowns, authorities often keep parts of the domestic Internet running, allowing access to local banking and government services, while communications with the outside world are cut off.
The current blackout began on January 8 amid anti-government protests. The sanctions were partially eased in February before being tightened again after the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.
Reports inside the country suggest that Internet Pro works through telecom-level “whitelisting” involving so-called “white SIM cards”, where certain SIM cards, mobile accounts or institutions are exempted from the country’s filtering system.
Unlike a VPN, which bypasses censorship by encrypting Internet traffic, Internet Pro appears to route pre-approved users through less restrictive gateways. Users with white SIMs reportedly retain access to the full global Internet.
The reported price for Internet Pro includes a one-year 50 gigabyte package, which costs approximately 2 million tbs, plus an activation fee of 2.8 million pounds and approximately 40,000 tbs for each additional gigabyte. By comparison, regular internet – now heavily restricted – costs £8,000 per person per gigabyte, leaving VPN services as the only option for many.
There is another way to access unrestricted Internet, but it carries significant risks. Several Starlink satellite receivers have been smuggled into the country, allowing users to bypass restrictions by connecting directly to SpaceX satellites. But these devices are illegal in Iran, and possessing them can lead to serious consequences, including arrest and national security charges.
The question of who gets better internet access has exposed divisions within the regime. The plan to introduce Internet access was approved by the Supreme National Security Council in February, but the government led by President Massoud Pezeshkian has announced that it opposes tiered access.
Pezeshkian’s office said last month that restrictions on people’s access to the global Internet were unfair and that government agencies had failed to determine the rationale for such a system. “In this regard, they have fallen short,” it says.
Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi stressed that high-quality access to the Internet is the right of every Iranian.
“There is no validity to the tiered internet or ‘whitelist’ system,” Hashmi said. A senior adviser to Hashmi insisted that the ministry had nothing to do with Internet Pro, which was designed to help businesses maintain service stability during the crisis but “has now been abused.”
But more hardline officials have supported the policy, according to analysts. These also include Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, who runs the authority that controls cyberspace.
Aghamiri was sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom in 2023 over human rights abuses related to its crackdown on protests in Iran.
Some labor organizations – such as Iran’s 300,000-strong nurses union and various lawyers’ groups – have rejected the use of Internet Pro in solidarity with ordinary workers who rely on it.
The Iranian Psychiatric Association has also criticized it.
“Unequal patterns of access to the global Internet can lead to increased psychological stress, feelings of being ignored or marginalized (and) a decline in public trust,” the association said last week.
On the defensive, officials have cited several reasons for the tiered system.
“The reason for the temporary restrictions is to prevent the recurrence of destructive cyber attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure,” an unnamed official claimed, quoted by Fars news agency.
The official claimed that Internet Pro was “a crisis measure to provide services with minimal disruption to specific professions such as professors, doctors, journalists and programmers.”
The profiteering of those with access to the Internet has also sparked public anger, as Internet Pro SIM cards have started appearing on the black market.
The head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Eze, said, “It is unacceptable that unworthy individuals or profiteers take advantage of this platform for financial abuse,” and called on prosecutors to tackle “discriminatory and corrupt” access.
Reformists in Iran feel that this is an issue on which they will get public support. The Iran Reform Front, a group of moderate groups, says this “discriminatory approach is widely perceived as perpetuating a VPN black market and exploiting people’s hardship, further intensifying feelings of injustice.”
At a time when the regime is desperate to build a united front against the US and Israel, discontent over who can do what online is creating a very public divide across a large segment of Iranian society.
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