Iran has plunged into a nationwide internet blackout as protests against the regime intensify, severely restricting communications across the country as demonstrations enter their second week and the death toll rises to 44, reports show.
Live network data from NetBlocks showed internet traffic in the restive country collapsing on Thursday evening, shortly after calls for mass protests circulated at 8pm local time.
Before news of the latest killings came in, President Donald Trump warned the regime again in an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Thursday if it started killing people, “they will be hit very hard.”
Asked by Hewitt if he had a message for the Iranian people, Trump said: “You have to have a strong opinion about freedom. There is nothing like freedom. You are courageous people.”
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The State Department’s Persian feed on X also reiterated Trump’s warning from his interview with Hugh Hewitt about the regime in Farsi.
“Around 1 p.m. local time, Internet traffic dropped,” he said, adding that there were widespread reports “that the regime had shut down the Internet.”
NetBlocks said the outage followed “a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country,” while The Associated press reported that telephone lines had also been cut in parts of Iran.
Safavi said the power outage coincided with violent clashes in several regions.
Protesters hold signs during a demonstration in Iran amid ongoing unrest, according to footage released by Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran. (NCRI)
“The internet was shut down in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces as fighting broke out,” he said.
He also pointed to the unrest in Isfahan, Iran’s third-largest city with about 2.3 million inhabitants, saying: “The state radio and TV station were set on fire by rebellious youth.”
As the communications breakdown deepened, the confirmed death toll from the unrest rose sharply.
The NCRI reported on Thursday that at least 44 protesters have been killed by Iranian security forces since the uprising began.
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Iranian demonstrations intensified for the twelfth day as demonstrators damaged government buildings in several provinces. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)
The group announced the names of thirteen additional victims that day, describing them as “martyrs” of the nationwide uprising.
Seven of the newly identified people were from Lordegan, including a woman and two teenagers.
According to the NCRI, the victims were killed by the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces with live ammunition.
The protests were sparked in December by the collapse of Iran’s currency and rising inflation, but have since grown into a broader movement demanding the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
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Iranian protesters attempt to take control of two cities in western Iran as nationwide unrest continues, with demonstrators in the streets chanting “Death to Khamenei.” (Getty)
The unrest entered its twelfth day, with general strikes spreading across major commercial centers and street fighting intensifying, especially in western Iran.
Safavi described the scale of the demonstrations as unprecedented.
“Millions of Iranians from north to south and east to west have been on the streets until the night,” he said.
“Over the past 12 days, more young people have given their lives to liberate Iran.”
In a statement shared on
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Iranian protests intensified for a twelfth day, with cars being turned upside down. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)
In Lordegan, security forces reportedly killed eight protesters in one day, while clashes also killed a regime colonel and two Basij members.
Elsewhere, protesters set fire to government buildings in cities including Lumar in Ilam province. Safavi said symbols of the state are being targeted nationwide.
“Statues were destroyed and set on fire,” Safavi said, noting that “the day before, buses in Mashhad were set on fire and another was set on fire.”
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Footage circulating online and cited by Reuters shows protesters in Mashhad tearing an Iranian flag in half while chanting against the leadership.
In Tehran, Safavi said, demonstrators overturned a police car in Kaj Square, an affluent area near the Alborz Mountains, as the crowd shouted: “Death to the oppressor!”
