Limited internet briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, as rights groups report thousands killed in protests under a communications blackout
PARIS: Limited internet access briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, a monitor said on Sunday.
The brief restoration occurred 10 days into a communications blackout that rights groups say masks a protest crackdown killing thousands.
Monitor Netblocks stated that “traffic levels have fallen after a brief, heavily filtered restoration of select Google and messaging services in Iran”.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that an attack on the country’s supreme leader would be a declaration of war.
His statement appeared to respond to US counterpart Donald Trump saying it was “time to look for new leadership in Iran”.
Demonstrations sparked by economic hardship in late December exploded into the biggest challenge to Iran’s leadership in years.
The rallies subsided after a crackdown rights groups call a “massacre” carried out under a communications blackout starting on 8 January.
Iranian officials have blamed the protests on foreign influence from the United States and Israel.
Trump, who joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, had threatened new military action if protesters were killed.
In an interview, Trump called supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people”.
President Pezeshkian told a cabinet meeting he recommended internet restrictions “be lifted as soon as possible”.
Some users reported brief access to WhatsApp, while outgoing international calls had resumed earlier in the week.
Fars news agency reported the chief executive of Irancell, a major mobile operator, was dismissed for failing to comply with the internet shutdown.
Solidarity demonstrations have continued in cities including Berlin, London and Paris.
Amnesty International said it verified videos and accounts showing a “massacre of protesters” by security forces.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) says it has verified 3,428 protester deaths through sources within Iran’s health system and witnesses.
The NGO warns the true toll is likely far higher, with other estimates placing it above 5,000 and possibly as high as 20,000.
The overseas-based Iran International channel has cited sources saying at least 12,000 people were killed.
Iran’s judiciary has rejected that figure.
Supreme Leader Khamenei said “a few thousand” had been killed by what he called “agents” of the US and Israel.
Khamenei said authorities “must break the back of the seditionists”, as local media report thousands of arrests.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir warned that swift trials would be held, with some acts warranting the capital offence of “waging war against God”.
“All those who played a decisive role in these calls for violence… will not be spared,” he said.
Analyst Arif Keskin cast doubt on Trump’s claim that Iran had called off executions, saying the leadership sees them as an effective suppression tool.
