Iran's internet blackout
Published 9 March 2026
Iran has been almost completely offline for more than a week. According to NetBlocks monitoring, nationwide connectivity dropped from normal levels to around 1% in early March and has remained near zero since. This makes it one of the longest internet shutdowns the country has experienced in recent years.
The outage appears to be state imposed and coincides with heightened tensions and internal instability. The likely aim is to control the flow of information and limit coordination online.
Some limited access persists through government networks, embassies and satellite services such as Starlink used by a small number of individuals and businesses. But for most of Iran’s roughly 90 million people the global internet has simply disappeared.
Classical thinkers often reminded us that knowledge rests on three foundations: sense perception, reliable reports and reason. When a society loses its channels of communication, two of those foundations begin to weaken.
People see less of the world beyond them. Reliable reports struggle to circulate. Reason is left to work with fragments.
Truth does not disappear in such moments. But the path to it becomes far harder to follow.
Worth sitting with that for a moment. An entire country in the dark.