At least seven major disruptions were observed this April in Iran. The weekly Friday internet shutdowns in Sistan and Baluchistan province have been ongoing throughout April in a similar pattern to March and February. These shutdowns continue as protests often take place around the same time as Friday prayers, especially in the city of Zahedan.
Similar to Sistan and Baluchistan province, we have also observed a pattern of internet shutdowns in Alborz province; on 14 April for about one hour, then on 20, 24, and 27 April, further disruptions were observed in the province.
BGP Issues in Alborz province of Iran during April 2023 – Source: IODA
According to Kentik data provided to Filterwatch, a new kind of disruption in April, which we have not seen in a while, was the result of hijacking IP space by AS41689 of AsiaTech on 10 April. According to an anonymous source, this is part of Iran’s national SD-WAN program. However, Filterwatch cannot independently verify this claim and currently how this will impact internet users in Iran is unknown.
“Nothing on the Internet that behaves like this except BGP-based DDoS mitigation like Prolexic. Is this part of some Iranian DDoS defense? If so, they screwed up the ROAs and AS41689’s announcements are getting filtered because most are RPKI-invalid, limiting its efficacy” said Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentikinc commented in a Twitter post about this incident on 14 April.
According to IODA data on 8 April, there was a major dip in internet traffic at 11:30 am UTC (3 pm local time), which affected Zanjan and Hamedan provinces.
Internet disruptions between 5 to 10 April 2023- Source: IODA
Internet disruptions between 9 April 2023- Source: IODA
On 3 April there was a major internet disruption in the city of Qom according to the IODA data. This could potentially be in response to a call to protest during between 3-7 of April though it is difficult to verify.
Manipulating connections after calls to protest and or on the days of protests, is one of the main methods used by the authorities to control and silence protests, especially during the past few months.
Internet disruption in Qom city, before call to protest- Source: IODA
In Alborz province, which is close to the capital city of Tehran, IODA data showed a brief disruption on 14 April, which lasted around 1.5 hours. During April, Alborz province experienced around 10 hours of disruptions without any prior warning or explanation from the authorities.
On 29 April, Alborz province experienced a near total internet shutdown from 10:30 am local time (7 am UTC time), which coincided with a “call to remove compulsory hijab” on the same day.
Internet connection disruption on April 29- Source: IODA
Call to remove compulsory hijab on 29 April – Source: WrIran.com
On 14 April, Arvan Cloud’s Radar showed disruptions on data centres. On the same day, Alborz and Zanjan province faced internet disruptions. This was the 4th week of disruptions in Alborz province, and Zanjan province faced a 10 hour disruption in early morning. This may have been in reaction to the a call to protest on 15 April.
Arvancloud Radar- 14th of April 2023 – Source: ArvanCloud Radar
Other Noteworthy Internet Disruptions:
On 27 April, multiple disruptions were observed which mostly affected Alborz province.
On 20 April, multiple provinces across Iran experienced internet disruptions according to IODA.
On 21 April, a disruption was observed on AS15611, which belongs to the state-owned Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology
On 17 April, internet disruptions mainly affecting East Azerbaijan province were observed.
On 9 April, internet disruptions mainly affecting Hamedan province were observed.
