Fatemeh Mohajerani confirms Iran's internet is being deliberately slowed

Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokeswoman for Masoud Pezeshkian's government, confirmed at her weekly press briefing on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, that the slowdown of the internet in Iran is a deliberate decision. According to her, "the responsible bodies are sometimes forced to slow the internet down."

The government spokeswoman cited "the importance of databases and internet-based services" as the reason for the decision, without saying which body decides on the slowdown, how long the restriction will last, or on the basis of which resolution it is imposed. The admission comes as users have reported in recent weeks a noticeable drop in speed and disruption to online services.

Background to the internet shutdowns in Iran

When the war with the United States and Israel began on 28 February 2026, the Islamic Republic cut citizens' access to the international internet. According to NetBlocks, the blackout lasted 88 days and more than 2,000 hours, the longest nationwide internet shutdown ever recorded in the world; at one point connectivity fell to about one percent of its pre-war level.

On 26 May, Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the communications minister to restore international access, and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, chaired by his first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref, approved returning the internet to its state before December 2025. However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and hardliners opposed the order and the reopening remained incomplete; users say what they received falls far short of the government's promise. Lifting internet restrictions was one of Pezeshkian's main campaign pledges.

The government itself had earlier acknowledged that many online businesses cannot withstand more than three weeks without internet and that the economy suffers direct losses of tens of millions of dollars a day.

Fears of another shutdown

The government spokeswoman's admission comes a few days after Islamic Republic officials spoke of the possibility of another internet shutdown and school closures if the war resumes. At the same time, threats by officials and state media to target undersea internet cables in the Persian Gulf, including Kayhan's defence of attacks on fibre-optic cables, have heightened users' concerns.

The spokeswoman for Pezeshkian's government admitted that Iran's slow internet is the result of a decision by the authorities, not a technical glitch.