Iran’s protests have entered their fourth week after demonstrations began on 28 December 2025, with the country largely cut off from the global internet since 8 January as the UN Human Rights Council prepares to meet in emergency session on 23 January.
Access Now said partial restrictions “culminated in a complete nationwide shutdown of internet and mobile connectivity and international phone calls” on the evening of 8 January.
Cloudflare said its Radar data showed traffic from Iran fell to “effectively zero” around 18:45 UTC, which it described as “a complete shutdown” and disconnection from the global internet.
The blackout has made it harder to independently confirm casualty and arrest claims while also cutting off ordinary communication and disrupting online services that many households and businesses rely on.
Economic pressure remains a central backdrop, with Iran’s Statistical Centre reporting point-to-point inflation at 52.6 percent in late December as prices rose sharply year-on-year.
Dr Tiba Bonyad, a postdoctoral researcher at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at University of Galway, told SIN that the current wave, which she described as the “Cost-of-Living Revolt,” reflects material pressures alongside “the absence of meaningful political and social freedoms.”
“These nationwide protests started from the Bazaar and extended to the universities and the marginally ethnic regions of Iran,” she said.
She said the bazaar’s role is politically significant because it represents “one of the most conservative and traditional segments of Iranian society” with deep economic influence and a historic role in the 1979 revolution.
She also framed the unrest as part of a longer pattern of mobilisation since 2017, pointing to “the continuum of uprisings against the deteriorating quality of life in Iran” and referencing the November 2019 crackdown and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
“The most striking aspect” of the current phase, she said, has been “the unprecedented level of repression,” alongside “the systematic suffocation of people’s voices through an ongoing internet blackout.”
The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran called to “immediately restore internet and mobile connectivity” and urged Iran to adhere to international human rights law amid reports of lethal force, raids, and mass detentions.
The EU’s High Representative said the EU “expresses its solidarity with the Iranian people” as they voice a “legitimate aspiration for a better life, freedom and dignity,” and said it was following reports of casualties “with great concern.”
“We also call for ensuring the right of access to information, including by restoring access to the internet for all,” the statement said.
In a separate 3 January statement, the EU’s diplomatic service said demonstrations were “reflecting the demands of many Iranians” and urged Iran’s security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” in handling peaceful protests.
The UN said the 23 January special session is being convened after a formal request submitted on 20 January by Iceland together with Germany, North Macedonia, Moldova and the United Kingdom.
In Ireland, human rights law academic Maeve O’Rourke told SIN she had “signed up to support” a statement by Iranian feminists “highlighting the needs of Iran’s people at this time,” and she recommended further specialist sources on protest law and Iran’s rights context.
Peter Petrov, Press and Communication Officer with the European Commission Representation in Ireland, pointed SIN to official EU positions on developments in Iran and noted that the Commission’s midday press briefing takes place “(almost) everyday at 11 am Irish time.”
Dr Bonyad said solidarity abroad should “go beyond awareness,” arguing that sustained political pressure and documentation are needed to challenge “decades-long impunity” for unlawful killings and arbitrary detention.
