Iran locks nation into ‘darker’ digital blackout, viewing internet as an ‘existential threat’
Iran’s internet blackout has hardened into a permanent system of digital repression, with the regime treating citizens’ access to the outside world as an “existential threat,” according to digital rights monitors.
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported Monday that Iran’s connectivity landscape had shifted dramatically as the country entered its 22nd day of unrest, following several days of almost total nationwide internet shutdown.
“On the twenty-second day, after several days of an almost complete internet shutdown, reports emerged of limited and unstable internet connectivity in some parts of the country,” NetBlocks reported.
“Indications are that we’re seeing a move toward a kind of ‘filternet plus’ censorship scheme in Iran,” NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker told Fox News Digital before pointing to “a rapid decline into a darker kind of digital darkness.”
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“The key difference from the pre-protest filternet arrangement is that, while internet platforms were extensively censored before, the regime is selectively whitelisting only a handful of services it deems critical for business needs.
“Even this selective access is sporadic, which means the censorship is likely still in the test phase,” he added. “In practice though, ordinary users remain offline.”
Toker described how the digital darkness “is in fact getting darker because the information controls are getting tighter.”
“Where international links were tolerated as a window to trade, the regime is approaching each of these as potential threats,” he said before adding that the regime “sees its own citizens’ ability to communicate with the rest of the world as an existential threat because the people are disaffected.”
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) at least 2,571 people were killed as of Monday, with additional deaths reported but not yet fully verified amid the communications blackout.
The internet blackout began Jan. 8 amid escalating demonstrations since Dec. 28, as authorities sought to prevent protesters from organizing, sharing videos of crackdowns and communicating with the outside world.
Since then, connectivity has remained inconsistent, with frequent outages and throttling even when partial access is restored.
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Iran International reported the blackout was expected to last until at least late March, with IranWire saying government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told media activists that access to international online services would not be restored before Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, on March 20.
“Having internet access was always a window to the outside and a lifeline for many Iranians,” Toker added. “It allowed for personal expression and culture that is banned by the regime.”
“These online freedoms can be as simple as online gaming, watching foreign movies or women’s ability to participate equally in spaces that would otherwise be barred by the Islamic Republic,” he added.
“With the internet blackout continuing, the curtain has been drawn on that window,” Toker said. “This is angering many Iranians, particularly Gen Z, who stand to lose a part of their identity.”
The blackout has also coincided with cyber incidents targeting Iran’s state infrastructure.
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As previously reported by Fox News Digital, anti-regime activists hacked Iran’s national broadcaster, briefly interrupting state television to air protest messages and calls from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and a prominent opposition figure.
“We aren’t able to see the specific hack here,” Toker explained. “The lack of up-to-date security is an issue for Iran.”
“It is caused directly by the country’s digital isolation,” he said. “Iran’s internet systems are outdated, and security tools aren’t available due to internet restrictions.”
Toker added that embargoes force widespread use of pirated software, which often contains hidden vulnerabilities that can be exploited to breach critical networks.
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He said cyber warfare played a major role during the June 2025 clashes between Israel and Iran, prompting the blackout as a defensive measure against digital attacks. Israel, he noted, also restricted parts of its own network at the time.
“In 2026, we haven’t seen the same focus on cyber incidents, but it’s clear there’s an ongoing battle between state actors as well as individual hackers,” Toker said.
Kaine vows new war powers fights after Senate blocks Trump Venezuela check
The latest bipartisan campaign to rein in President Donald Trump’s war authority in Venezuela may have failed, but the lawmaker behind the push has no intention of stopping his pursuit.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., plans to continue his goal of corralling Trump’s policing power across the globe, and believes that he can find support among Republicans to pass a war powers resolution out of the Senate.
“The other thing we’re going to do is this: We’re going to be filing a whole lot more war powers resolutions,” Kaine said after the unsuccessful vote to advance his resolution.
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He argued that this resolution, though unable to make it out of the Senate this time, was similar to a war powers resolution he filed shortly after the strike ordered by Trump in 2020 that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani.
The resolution garnered eight Republican votes in a GOP-controlled Senate at the time.
“When you do it, and you get Republican votes, it sends a message to the White House,” he said.
Kaine and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who co-sponsored the latest war powers resolution, previously suggested that later attempts to rein in Trump’s war authorities could be focused on Greenland, Iran and Cuba.
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Kaine’s optimism comes from the successful vote to curtail Trump’s war powers in Venezuela earlier this month, where five Senate Republicans splintered from their colleagues to advance a resolution that would have required the president to confer with Congress before future military action in the region.
Still, that same cohort was unable to survive a pressure campaign from Senate Republican leadership, Trump and administration officials.
The two lawmakers who reversed their position, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., did so because of guarantees from the administration, chiefly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that no boots would be on the ground in Venezuela.
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Young received the assurance from Rubio in a letter the day of the vote, when he said that should Trump “determine that he intends to introduce U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities in major military operations in Venezuela, he would seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting).”
Kaine said that while the outcome was disappointing, and Trump and Senate Republican leadership engaged in a “full-court press unlike any I’ve seen in 13 years here” to stop the resolution from succeeding, the cracks in the foundation were still there. And Kaine believed they were ripe to fracture even further.
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“The way cracks grow is through pressure and the pressure campaign that I sort of decided to launch by use of these privileged motions. I’m going to file every one I can to challenge emergencies, to challenge unlawful wars, to seek human rights reports, arms transfers if they’re wrong,” he said.
Top GOP senator says Syria ceasefire welcome but actions must match words
The Syrian army’s rapid-fire conquest of important areas and towns previously controlled by the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), culminated on Sunday in a fragile ceasefire agreement with a stern warning from a powerful U.S. Senator and experts about the reported crimes of forces controlled by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Jim Risch, R-Idaho., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News Digital, “The Syrian government’s decree to respect Kurdish rights is a good sign, but the conduct of its forces on the ground must match. Division and violence in Syria between U.S. partners only benefit bad actors like ISIS and Iran who exploit Syria to use as a breeding ground for international terrorism, including against the U.S. I welcome the announcement of a ceasefire and will be watching its implementation closely.”
Al-Sharaa, a former U.S.-designated terrorist who was a member of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, greenlighted an incursion into territory ruled peacefully by the SDF for over a decade.
Amid Risch’s warning, reports coming out of Syria claim skirmishes between the Syrian army and SDF are continuing.
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The news organization, Kurdistan 24, showed alleged footage of al-Sharaa’s forces releasing Islamic State prisoners. According to the report, “The Syrian Arab Army releases ISIS prisoners in al-Tabqah city.”
The footage has been widely posted on social media. Fox News Digital could not independently verify the video.
The State Department referred Fox News Digital to an X post from the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who also serves as the Special Envoy for Syria. Barrack wrote on X about the deal between SDF General Mazloum Abdi and al-Sharra.
“Two great Syrian leaders, driven by the shared vision of liberating their country and people from tyranny, have now come together to forge a brighter future for all Syrians. This agreement and ceasefire represent a pivotal inflection point, where former adversaries embrace partnership over division.”
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Barrack added, “President al-Sharaa has affirmed that the Kurds are an integral part of Syria, and the United States looks forward to the seamless integration of our historic partner in the fight against ISIS with the Global Coalition’s newest member, as we press forward in the enduring battle against terrorism.”
However, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) commander Sipan Hamo — a Syrian organization that is part of the SDF — said on the Saturday meeting between U.S. envoy Tom Barrack and Kurdish officials produced no roadmap to a ceasefire. He denied Syria’s Kurds wanted to secede or create an independent state and said their future was in Syria.
“Our greatest hope is that there will be a tangible outcome, especially from the coalition and the United States, meaning that they will intervene more forcefully in the existing problems than what they are currently doing,” Hamo said.
The head of the main Kurdish forces told Reuters that the U.S. should intervene more forcefully to end a Syrian offensive that has gained key territory from Kurdish fighters in recent days.
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Government troops launched an offensive on Saturday into territory run for the last decade by semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities in the northeast of Syria, capturing towns on both sides of the Euphrates River and the country’s largest oil and gas field, officials and security sources said.
But given Kurdish “concerns about the changes taking place,” the U.S. should offer assurances of protection to them.
Hamo said that, “In the current situation and the chaos we are living in, the only ones who can offer guarantees are the United States or the coalition,” he added in a rare interview from Hasakeh province, which is still under Kurdish control.
“We believe that the responsibility for everything currently happening inside Syria lies with the Western countries, and especially the United States of America,” he said.
“Of course, we consider Israel a powerful state in the region with its own agenda. We hope that the same stance taken by other countries in the region towards certain minorities in Syria will be extended to the Kurds as well,” Hamo said.
Asked if he was referring to Israel’s stance towards the Druze minority last summer — when Israel carried out air strikes on the defense ministry, near the presidential palace in Damascus and on Syrian troops advancing on Druze cities, Hamo said, “of course.”
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Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish affairs analyst, told Fox News Digital that, “President Trump has spoken about giving Syria and all its peoples a fresh opportunity to turn a new page. Yet, Ahmed al Sharaa’s actions appear to move against that intention, and many Kurds believe he is abusing the political space that was meant to support stability rather than deepen tensions. “
Civiroglu added that “I don’t think the U.S. is abandoning the Kurds, but President Trump’s good intention is being abused by Sharaa. Lawmakers in Washington have also expressed unease about the interim Syrian government’s treatment of minorities, which reflects broader questions about its commitment to inclusive governance.”
Civiroglu posted footage on his popular X account of al-Sharaa supporters toppling “a statue of a female Kurdish fighter after interim Syrian government forces seized Tabqa from the SDF. Kurdish fighters backed by the United States had liberated the town from ISIS in May 2017.”
Civiroglu said, “al-Sharaa’s confrontations with Kurdish forces, following earlier pressure on Alawite and Druze areas, reinforce doubts about the interim government’s legitimacy and its ability to represent Syria’s diverse population.
“The International community must remember that the Kurdish people have long fought alongside the United States, France and the West in the campaign against ISIS, and many are watching closely to see how these partners interpret the latest escalation,” he said.
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Max Abrahms, a leading expert on counter-terrorism and a professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Fox News Digital, “The YPG and then SDF were America’s primary counterterrorism forces against Islamic State in Syria during the war. Unlike the so-called “rebels,” our Kurdish warrior friends exhibited both capability and moderation. It’s not surprising that the jihadists, upon taking power in Damascus, would turn their guns on the Kurdish forces. Of course, we need to stand with them.”
Graham says Russia sanctions bill ‘never going back on the shelf’ after Trump backs push
The bipartisan push for sanctions against Russia has, for several months, ebbed and flowed on waves of speculation about whether legislation would actually get a vote.
A signal or suggestion of support from President Donald Trump would often push the bill from Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., closer to fruition, only to be swept back into churning, murky waters with no clear path on when or if the package would make its way to the president’s desk.
Now, Trump has given Graham the “greenlight” to move ahead with his long-simmering sanctions package as peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue to simmer in the background.
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Graham told Fox News Digital that this time around, he believed the bill would actually get a shot.
“It’s never going back on the shelf because President Trump believes he needs it,” Graham said. “I think he needs it.”
But it has been over a week since Graham announced the president backed the package, and so far, it has yet to make it to the floor in the upper chamber. Lawmakers are also out this week and are set to return to Washington, D.C., next week with the primary objective of preventing a partial government shutdown.
Still, the bipartisan duo has been tweaking the legislation over the last several months, but the core objective would be to slap eye-popping tariffs onto countries buying energy products from Moscow.
The intent is to cripple Russia’s war machine by imposing duties on oil, gas, uranium and other exports, largely purchased by China and India, which account for nearly three-quarters of Moscow’s energy business.
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The package has been on the back burner as the Trump administration works to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The latest iteration of that agreement generally included provisions that would have required Ukraine to give up territory to Russia, a non-starter for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump told Reuters during an interview published last week that it was Zelenskyy holding up negotiations toward a peace deal and contended that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready to make a deal,” while Ukraine was “less ready to make a deal.”
While the package hasn’t dislodged itself onto the floor in the upper chamber, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital that Trump supports the legislation.
But one issue that threatens to trip up the process once more is where the package actually starts in Congress.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., doubled down on his position that any Russia sanctions package, despite being labored on in the Senate for several months, should start in the House, given the budgetary impact it could have.
That would require buy-in from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to either replicate Graham and Blumenthal’s proposal, or craft their own. Then it would need to hit the House floor, which could take longer than lawmakers in the upper chamber are willing to wait.
On whether Johnson said he would put it on the floor, Thune said, “He hasn’t.”
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“But my guess is that if it’s something that, you know, the White House — it’s important to them, it’s a priority, particularly dealing with Russia and Ukraine, I would assume that they would try and do that,” he said.
That’s where there’s a disconnect.
Johnson supports Russia sanctions but has said on multiple occasions that he believes a sanctions bill should originate in the Senate.
He has argued that starting the legislation in the House would drastically slow down its progress, given the numerous committees any package would have to pass through before ever hitting the floor for a vote.
Graham believed that the “sense of urgency now is the greatest it’s been” and noted that he has told Thune that he wants the legislation to start in the Senate, where it has over 80 co-sponsors.
“This is where the idea came from, get a big bipartisan vote and try to get President Trump to use these tools coming from the Congress so we can end this bloodbath,” Graham said.
“Now, in a normal world it would, but I just think the momentum is in the Senate,” he continued. “We can take a shell — It’s not that hard. I mean, I’ve been working my a– [off] on this thing for over a year, or whatever how long it’s been.”
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Blumenthal told Fox News Digital that he had been speaking with his colleagues in the lower chamber and added that there’s “no reason” that the package should get bogged down or tripped up in the House.
Blumenthal and Graham view their sanctions push as providing Trump with another weapon to force Putin to the negotiating table.
He argued that “security is the linchpin here, but forcing Putin to come to the table also involves economic pressure, and ultimately, we want peace, and that will involve both economic and military security.”
“I feel very, very encouraged, because I think that a lot is coming together,” Blumenthal said.
World Economic Forum boots Iranian foreign minister from Davos summit amid deadly crackdown on protesters
The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday withdrew an invitation for Iran’s foreign minister to attend the Davos summit in Switzerland after an advocacy group urged it to bar Iranian regime officials amid nationwide anti-government protests that have left thousands dead.
In a post on X, the WEF confirmed that Abbas Araghchi would not be permitted to attend the five-day event.
“Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year,” the organization said.
The announcement comes after the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) sent a letter to WEF President Børge Brende on Friday, urging him to rescind the invitation and bar Iranian regime officials from attending amid a brutal crackdown on civilians.
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UANI CEO Ambassador Mark Wallace welcomed the decision, telling Fox News Digital in a statement after Araghchi’s invitation was withdrawn: “UANI commends the World Economic Forum for revoking the invitation of Iran’s Foreign Minister from this year’s gathering in Davos. Iranian regime representatives should not be platformed at international events given their crimes against the Iranian people and their long history of supporting terrorism.”
Iran is currently facing nationwide anti-government protests that have drawn a violent response from security forces and placed growing pressure on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which tracks human rights violations in Iran, said on Sunday that nationwide protests continued into the 22nd day as President Donald Trump weighs possible U.S. military action.
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The group’s aggregated figures showed 624 recorded protests, the arrest of at least 24,669 people and the confirmed deaths of 3,919 individuals.
HRANA said 3,685 of those killed were protesters, including 25 children under the age of 18.
Nearly 9,000 deaths remain under investigation.
White House press secretary Karoline Levitt said at a press briefing last week that the Trump administration was closely watching the situation in Iran.
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“All options remain on the table for the president,” she told reporters.
Iran state TV hacked to show exiled Crown Prince Pahlavi
Multiple Iranian state TV channels were hacked on Sunday amid a near-total internet shutdown to air footage of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and images of anti-government protests that have rocked Tehran in recent weeks.
Two clips of Pahlavi were shown as well as a graphic calling on Iranian security forces to side with the public, The Associated Press reported.
“Don’t point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran,” one graphic read, according to a translation from the outlet.
Pahlavi himself called on Iran’s military to break with the Islamic Republic and side with the people.
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“I have a special message for the military. You are the national army of Iran, not the Islamic Republic army,” he said in the hacked broadcast. “You have a duty to protect your own lives. You don’t have much time left. Join the people as soon as possible.”
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which tracks human rights violations in Iran, said on Sunday that nationwide protests continued into the 22nd day as President Donald Trump weighs possible U.S. military action.
The group’s aggregated figures showed 624 recorded protests, the arrest of at least 24,669 people and the confirmed deaths of 3,919 individuals.
KHAMENEI CALLS TRUMP A ‘CRIMINAL,’ BLAMES HIM FOR DEADLY PROTESTS SWEEPING IRAN
HRANA said 3,685 of those killed were protesters, including 25 children under the age of 18.
Nearly 9,000 deaths remain under investigation.
Iran International reported that witnesses across multiple cities told them security forces stormed hospitals, removed injured protesters and interfered with medical care, while reports from other areas described overwhelmed morgues and a strong security presence around medical facilities.
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The outlet also reported that witnesses described injured protesters being left without medical care after shootings, as ambulances failed to arrive and phone networks were unavailable.
Others said hospitals were inaccessible or refused treatment, resulting in some wounded protesters bleeding to death while taking shelter in nearby buildings.