Internet users in Iran experienced widespread disruptions in September-October 2023, ranging from complete outages to severe disturbances. These disruptions coincided with the second internet blackout schedule announced by the Minister of Communications, Isa Zarepour, and his organization, the Infrastructure Communications Company. According to them, the internet in vast areas of Iran would be disrupted from the 7 to 11 October 2023, for an update to the network infrastructure.
Mohammad Ehsan Khorramid, an advisor to the Minister of Communications, acknowledged the outages. He posted on the Virasti network1 (a local social media platform similar to X or Twitter) on September 26, 2023 that the disruptions were caused by ‘development in the core of the national network and installation of new equipment’. He added that some links of the Infrastructure Communications Company might be temporarily disconnected in the early hours of the morning.
He also criticized those who opposed the internet cuts and disruptions, claiming that they would not affect users, and said: ‘Do not misinterpret this development for a disruption’.
Despite Khorramid’s claim that the disruptions would be short, occur at midnight, and go unnoticed, our investigations at FilterWatch show that:
- The disruptions exceeded the duration reported by the Ministry of Communications.
- The disruptions affected not only the announced locations but also other areas.
- The disruptions were so extensive that they impacted not only regular users but also hosting companies and online businesses.
As evidence of this claim, one can refer to the disruption on October 9th. The internet blackout schedule indicated that only Khorramabad in Lorestan Province would be affected. However, FilterWatch, a website that monitors internet censorship in Iran, reported that users and businesses in many other parts of Iran, such as Mashhad, Rasht, Tabriz, Arak, Qazvin, and Gorgan, also faced internet access problems.
Given the continuation of some of these disruptions in the days that followed, the Ministry of Communications and its subsidiary companies have not provided any explanation or response, displaying a lack of accountability that has been observed in similar incidents before.
Another issue that occurred in Mehr and harmed users and online businesses was the long-term internet outage of ParsOnline, one of the largest private ISPs in Iran. Pars Online’s public relations blamed the problem on ‘infrastructure’ and ‘hardware’ issues in an interview with the Karneg website, on October 9, 2023.
ParsOnline did not disclose the damage caused by this disruption. However, Arash Parsapour, a technology journalist, tweeted on October 8, 2023 without a source, ‘Approximately 100 GB of traffic were lost, and it is estimated that 300,000 subscribers faced internet disruption and outages.’
In previous months, users’ connectivity suffered from power outages or fires. One example was the fire at the ‘Islamic Revolution’ (Enghelab Eslami) building, owned by the Infrastructure Communications Company, on the morning of the March 4, 2023. The fire disrupted the fixed and mobile internet access of users in Iran.
Mohammad Mozaffari, the technical manager of IranServer, a web hosting company, commented on the Pars Online internet outage. He tweeted on October 8, 2023 that the outage was due to problems in the electrical system, cooling in the Pars Online data center, and the lack of a backup communication link to the ‘Islamic Revolution’ (Enghelab Eslami) Center of the Infrastructure Communications Company.
Every Friday in Mehr of this year, the internet in Zahedan suffered from severe disruptions, almost like a total blackout, during the Friday prayers. This has been happening since the ‘Bloody Friday in Zahedan’ incident, except for a few rare days.
In the next part of this report, we will examine the internet disruptions in September-October 2023 in more detail.
Three-Day Widespread Disruptions
On the 9th, 15th, and 17th of October, the IODA charts showed significant internet disruptions in Iran.
According to IODA data and FilterWatch‘s analyses, a large part of Iran’s territory experienced severe internet disruption at midnight on the 17th of October. Based on IODA’s data, the provinces of Golestan, Alborz, Qazvin, Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, Fars, Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Hormozgan, East Azerbaijan, and Semnan are the regions that experienced this intense disruption.
According to FilterWatch’s analyses, which include a review of IODA data as well as the examination of data from experts and online businesses within the country, in addition to regular internet users, many internet businesses and hosting services also lacked internet access.
Furthermore, Arvan Cloud’s radar showed a severe disruption at the Afranet data center in Tehran.
FilterWatch’s analyses, citing technical experts, have assessed this problem as resulting from hardware disruptions. Officials from the Ministry of Communications of Iran have yet to respond to these disruptions.
- The next widespread disruption occurred on October 16, 2023, during which, according to IODA data, there was an internet disruption from 1:30 AM to 6:30 AM.
According to field investigations by FilterWatch, the internet of Telecommunications of Iran was disrupted from around 1:30 AM to 7 AM local time. IODA data also shows that the internet in Fars and Hormozgan provinces suffered from severe disruptions, almost like a total blackout, during the same period.
- On October 17, 2023, internet monitoring sites showed widespread disruptions. According to IODA data, the internet in Iran experienced severe disruptions close to a complete outage from 1:30 AM to 2:30 AM. A few hours before this disruption, namely on October 17, 2023 from 6 PM to midnight local time, Arvan Cloud’s radar showed a severe disruption at the data centers of Mobin Net, Host Iran, Datacenter2, and Datacenter3 in Tehran.
Additionally, according to IODA data, on October 17, 2023, the internet in the provinces of Kermanshah and Yazd experienced disruptions from around midnight to early morning (approximately 11:30 PM to 2:30 AM). Also, the internet in the Qazvin province on October 18, 2023 underwent severe disruptions from 7:30 AM to 11 AM.
Iranian authorities remained silent on these outages. FilterWatch could not verify or refute the link between these disruptions and the infrastructure upgrade, due to a lack of access to measurable sources and the absence of the free flow of information in Iran. However, it was clear that these disruptions were not trivial and lasted for a long time, sometimes happening during the day and disrupting people’s work.
Widespread Pars Online Outage Across Iran; A Disruption Affecting the Entire Country
According to IODA data, from October 1 to October 31, 2023, the internet across almost all of Iran, using the AS16322 services of Pars Online, faced severe disruptions close to a complete outage. This disturbance is visible on the IODA charts for a significant portion of the time period from October 1 to Oct 31, 2023.
Field investigations by FilterWatch confirm the existence of these outages. According to information received by FilterWatch, this disruption occurred due to hardware issues.
The Crisis in Qazvin
Qazvin experienced one of the most critical internet situations from October 18 to October 31, 2023. According to IODA data, starting at 6:30 AM on October 18, 2023, the internet across the entire province of Qazvin faced severe disruptions close to a complete outage. The same chart indicates that network routing or active probing encountered significant disruptions. Such a disturbance is a recent development and did not occur in the previous month. Authorities have not yet responded to this disruption.
The Crisis in Semnan
IODA data shows that the internet in Semnan province faced severe disruptions close to a complete outage throughout the period from October 1 to October 31, 2023, due to disturbances in internet routing or Active probing.
Other Notable Disruptions:
- According to IODA data, in the time frame from October 4 to October 31, 2023, the internet in Alborz province faced continuous, short-term, and nightly outages due to disturbances in internet routing or active probing. The majority of these disruptions occurred in the early hours of the morning.
- According to IODA data, the internet in Golestan province experienced severe disruptions from October 6 to October 10, 2023. During this period, the internet only had better conditions for a time frame around 6 AM on October 9, 2023, until around midnight of the same day.
- According to IODA data, the internet in Ilam province experienced severe disruptions from October 11 to October 26, 2023
- According to IODA data, the internet in Hormozgan province in Iran faced severe disruptions from October 2 to October 9, 2023.
