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Iran has begun easing sweeping communication restrictions imposed after deadly antigovernment protests rocked the country for more than two weeks.<\/p>\n
The semiofficial Fars News Agency on Saturday said authorities restored the short messaging service (SMS) nationwide as part of a phased plan after eight days of near-total internet disruption.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Quoting officials, the agency reported that the decision followed what it described as the stabilisation of the security situation and the detention of key figures linked to \u201cterror organisations\u201d behind the violence during protests over rising prices and economic hardship that erupted on December 28 in several Iranian cities.<\/p>\n Authorities said the internet blackout had \u201csignificantly weakened the internal connections of opposition networks abroad\u201d and disrupted the activities of the \u201cterror cells\u201d.<\/p>\n They said they would gradually lift other internet and communications controls. In the second phase, users are expected to regain access to Iran\u2019s national internet network and domestic applications, before international internet connectivity is restored in a final stage.<\/p>\n Local sources said access to Iranian messaging platforms, including Eita and Bale, had resumed after days of interruption.<\/p>\n Reporting from the capital, Tehran, via satellite, Al Jazeera correspondent Resul Serdar Atas said daily life has been profoundly affected by the prolonged shutdown of the internet.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are feeling that they\u2019re living almost 30 years back, when there was very limited internet around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Officials say the restoration will follow a phased approach. \u201cNow the SMS services are restored. It has been, as of now, around 10 hours since this service was restored,\u201d Atas said on Saturday morning, adding that no clear timeline has been provided for the phased restoration of internet access.<\/p>\n The only official guidance so far has come from Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has said connectivity will return \u201csoon\u201d \u2013 a promise Atas said remains vague.<\/p>\n The blackout has compounded economic pressures that initially fuelled the unrest, our correspondent said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is, of course, having a huge impact on business as well. The main trigger of this protest was the economic hardship that Iranians are facing on a daily basis, and this large internet blackout is further complicating and destabilising the economy here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as this internet blackout is in place, the sense of normalcy is not going to return.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, tensions remain high in Iran despite the protests being relatively subdued in recent days.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s \u200dSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on \u2060Saturday said \u200bIran considers \u200dUnited States President Donald Trump a \u201ccriminal\u201d for \u200dinflicting \u2060casualties, damage and slander on the Iranian people during \u200bthe \u200cprotests.<\/p>\n \u201cThe latest anti-Iran sedition was different \u200cin that \u200cthe US \u2060president personally became involved,\u201d Iranian \u200cmedia quoted Khamenei as saying.<\/p>\n Officials say some 3,000 people have been arrested over the protests. There is still no confirmed death toll, though US-based rights group, HRANA, says a further 3,000 have been killed in the protests.<\/p>\n Atas reported that \u201cmore than 100 security personnel and hundreds of civilians and protesters have been killed,\u201d with figures likely to change as inquiries proceed.<\/p>\n Officials said the government was \u201cfully aware of its human rights obligations\u201d and had taken \u201call necessary measures to exercise maximum restraint\u201d while also fulfilling its \u201cduty to protect its people and maintain public order and national security\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite the partial easing of communication facilities, monitoring groups say overall connectivity remains severely limited. Internet watchdog NetBlocks said its data showed a slight increase in connectivity on Saturday morning, but overall access remained at about 2 percent of normal levels.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no indication of a significant return,\u201d the group said in a post on X, suggesting that most Iranians remain largely offline as uncertainty continues over when full access will be restored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Iran has begun easing sweeping communication restrictions imposed after deadly antigovernment protests rocked the country for more than two weeks. The semiofficial Fars News Agency on Saturday said authorities restored the short messaging service (SMS) nationwide as part of a phased plan after eight days of near-total internet disruption. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
No timeline<\/h2>\n
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