Iran’s deputy communications minister says internet filtering has failed
Behzad Akbari says restrictions have raised users’ costs, while efforts to lift them face multiple decision-making bodies.
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Iran’s deputy communications minister says internet filtering has failed, increasing users’ costs and dissatisfaction while diverting attention from developing the country’s digital infrastructure.
Behzad Akbari, who also heads Iran’s Telecommunication Infrastructure Company, made the remarks at a press conference in response to a question about government efforts to lift restrictions. He said those efforts remained on the agenda, but several institutions held decision-making power or influence, and some opposed keeping the internet connected under current conditions.
“I can say with confidence that filtering has not been effective and has become counterproductive,” Akbari said.
His comments were a criticism of the existing approach, rather than an announcement that restrictions would be lifted. He called for a change in how Iran governs its online environment, arguing that concentrating on filtering risked neglecting infrastructure development.
Access restored, with exceptions
Akbari said internet conditions had largely returned to their state before Dey 1404, the Iranian calendar month that began in late December 2025. That was the benchmark set by a government cyberspace steering body for restoring access after an 88-day shutdown.
However, he said one platform that had been accessible before that period remained blocked. He did not identify it.
Starlink figure remains an estimate
Akbari also said internet traffic was about one terabit per second lower than before that period. He suggested the missing traffic was passing through unofficial routes, specifically Starlink, and put that volume at roughly 10% of the country’s total bandwidth.
He described the Starlink explanation as a guess. The figure is therefore an official estimate based on a decline in traffic, not a directly measured share of Starlink usage.
Separately, Akbari said the company’s round-the-clock monitoring showed that nearly 31% of domains were inaccessible to Iranian users because of sanctions and infected devices, with sanctions accounting for most cases. He did not specify the sample of domains or the methodology behind the figure.
He said restrictions affecting foreign platforms, application programming interfaces (APIs) and AI services compounded Iran’s domestic internet controls, leaving users facing barriers even when they were not trying to reach a service blocked inside the country.
