---
title: "Nationwide internet blackout hits Iran while protests persist"
description: "Iran faces a nationwide internet blackout as anti-government protests over economic distress and inflation spread. Amid rising unrest, US President Donald Trump has warned against the use of force by security services."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "TEHRAN TURMOIL"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-01-08-nationwide-internet-blackout-hits-iran-while-protests-persist/"
published: "2026-01-08T23:36:25"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 296
---

# Nationwide internet blackout hits Iran while protests persist

> Iran faces a nationwide internet blackout as anti-government protests over economic distress and inflation spread. Amid rising unrest, US President Donald Trump has warned against the use of force by security services.

By Reuters · Published 9 January 2026, 01:36 SAST

## Key points
- Iran experiences a nationwide internet blackout amid ongoing protests over economic woes.
- Protesters march in major cities, chanting against the Islamic Republic and calling for further demonstrations.
- Exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi encourages protests while state media claims cities are calm.
- President Pezeshkian warns suppliers against hoarding while unrest fuels demands for economic reform.

## Content

A nationwide internet blackout was reported in Iran on Thursday, internet monitoring group NetBlocks said, as protests over economic hardships continued around the country.

No further information on the internet outage was immediately available.

Witnesses in the capital Tehran and major cities of Mashhad and Isfahan told Reuters that protesters gathered again in the streets on Thursday, chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic’s clerical rulers.

![Reuters-Iran-blackout](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/-cMRfU7C4qVtpF8qOJ3YbS80EGQ=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/AFP_20260106_89RQ4G3_v4_HighRes_IranEconomyProtestSecurity_573132.jpg)

*This screengrab, from UGC images posted on social media, shows Iranian security forces using tear gas on 6 January 2026 to disperse protesters at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. (Photo: UGC / AFP)*

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of [Iran’s late Shah](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/who-makes-up-irans-fragmented-opposition-2025-06-18/), toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, called in a video post on X on Wednesday for more protests.

Posts on social media, which could not be independently verified by Reuters, said demonstrators chanted pro-Pahlavi slogans in several cities and towns across Iran.

Iranian state media, however, said cities across the country were calm.

The protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar with shopkeepers condemning the rial currency’s free-fall.

Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic privations arising from rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.

President Masoud Pezeshkian warned domestic suppliers against hoarding or overpricing goods, state media reported earlier on Thursday.

“People should not feel any shortage in terms of goods’ supply and distribution,” he said, calling on his government to ensure adequate supply of goods and monitoring of prices across the country.

Tehran remains under international pressure with US President [Donald Trump](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-threatens-iran-over-protest-deaths-unrest-flares-2026-01-02/) threatening to come to the aid of protesters if security forces fire on them, seven months after Israeli and US forces bombed Iranian nuclear sites. **DM**