Iran began lifting its internet blockade after 88 days, the longest internet blackout in modern history.
Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, announced in a Tuesday X post that the country would begin reopening the internet in line with a request from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, confirmed the same day that a “partial restoration” was taking place after “2093 hours of near-total isolation from international networks,” making it the longest internet shutdown in history.
A woman checks her smartphone while sitting on a bench along a sidewalk in northern Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
“In line with the esteemed President’s mission and in fulfillment of the government’s promise, the first step toward free and regulated access to cyberspace has been taken,” Aref said Tuesday. “With the reopening of the internet, smart services will be streamlined, the demands of the people who have thus stood by the system and Iran will be fulfilled, and the obstacles to knowledge-based development and scientific authority will be removed.”
Notably, Aref made the post in response to a post from Pezeshkian made two weeks ago.
