{"id":108907,"date":"2026-05-28T17:27:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/greetings-after-88-days-iranians-reconnect-after-long-internet-shutdown-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T17:27:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:27:32","slug":"greetings-after-88-days-iranians-reconnect-after-long-internet-shutdown-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/greetings-after-88-days-iranians-reconnect-after-long-internet-shutdown-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Greetings after 88 days’: Iranians reconnect after long internet shutdown | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issues order to reopen international \u200binternet access<\/p>\n

An Iranian woman, Samaneh, tries to connect to the internet to check on her visa status for her migration process, after a nationwide internet shutdown since January 8, 2026. Photo: Reuters <\/p>\n

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Iranians, isolated by a long internet shutdown imposed by the authorities during the war \u200bwith the United States and Israel, expressed joy as social media came back to life in a country \u200cwhere, even in normal times, access to the outside world remains restricted via censorship of many websites.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve never been so happy in my life to see Telegram notifications,” Kian Galvani, an engineering student, wrote on his account on X.<\/p>\n

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued an order to reopen international \u200binternet access, Iranian state media reported on Monday, citing an official after a near-90-day blackout. The report cited the \u200bhead of public relations at Iran\u2019s Communications Ministry.<\/p>\n

The mechanism for how and when Iran would reconnect \u2060to the global web following the decision was unknown.<\/p>\n

Read More:<\/strong> Iran\u2019s internet plummets to 1% as blackout <\/a><\/p>\n

Authorities initially imposed an internet blackout from January 8 in a crackdown \u200bon nationwide anti-government protests, which the US-based HRANA rights group said killed thousands. Connections were gradually restored in February<\/a>, before a new \u200bblackout was initiated following the start of US and Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longest internet blackout in the history of the world has ended, greetings after 88 days\u201d, Alireza Jafarzadeh, an Iranian editor, posted on his account on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Seyyid Sattar \u200bHashemi said on Wednesday that “the Iranian people deserve free communication, a bright future, and a dynamic economy.”<\/p>\n

“The president’s commitment to \u200bthe reopening of the internet and restoring communication stability is a clear sign of rationality and standing with the people”, Hashemi added, according to \u200cstate \u2060media.<\/p>\n

Businesses hit hard by blackout <\/strong><\/p>\n

Prolonged shutdowns<\/a> both restrict internet freedoms and hurt businesses that depend heavily on social media to operate, taking a toll on a fragile economy battered by the war and long-standing US sanctions.<\/p>\n

Keyumars, an Iranian computer programmer, who asked that only his first name be used due to security concerns, told Reuters <\/em>that many people in Iran who ran businesses \u200bthrough Instagram and Telegram due to the \u200bhigh cost of renting \u2060a physical store \u201clost everything during this blackout\u201d and “have to start again from far below zero \u2014 while carrying heavy debts, losses, and lost customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alp Toker, director of internet monitoring group NetBlocks, told \u200bReuters <\/em>on Wednesday that the process of restoration could take hours, days, or even weeks in \u200bprovinces.<\/p>\n

He added that \u2060connectivity remains unstable and internet access is heavily restricted, with platforms such as WhatsApp still inaccessible without a VPN.<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>Iran restores internet access following ceasefire with Israel<\/a><\/p>\n

“Businesses are suffering, small businesses, people aren’t able to get in touch with loved ones. And there’s also, I think, a sense of being left behind. \u2060A lot \u200bhas happened in the world,” said Toker.<\/p>\n

Iranians remain wary of ongoing restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are \u200ba long way from achieving the world-class version of the internet that the Iranian people deserve\u2026 civic and social activities in the heart of this darkness \u200bare the pulse of our survival,” Iranian citizen Alireza Naji posted on his X account.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issues order to reopen international \u200binternet access An Iranian woman, Samaneh, tries to connect to the internet to check on her visa status for her migration process, after a nationwide internet shutdown since January 8, 2026. Photo: Reuters Iranians, isolated by a long internet shutdown imposed by the authorities during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/3-101779891467-0\/3-101779891467-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}