Iran and Hezbollah implicated in Irish cocaine trafficking case

NetBlocks, which monitors global internet freedom, confirmed the outage, noting “Live network data show a major disruption to internet connectivity in Iran.” The shutdown, which lasted roughly two hours, echoed user reports from across the country.

“The flow of messages in favor of the government increased after the blackout,” a user named Maryam posted on X, suggesting the internet restrictions were designed to “silence critics and opposition.”

NetBlocks also pointed to the recent conflict between Israel and the Islamic Republic, during which Iran’s security forces cut telecommunications nationwide; an action carried out by Iranian security officials under the pretext of “safeguarding national security,” but met with widespread negative reactions both domestically and abroad.

IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, cited the state-run Telecommunications Infrastructure Company, reporting a national-level disruption in international connectivity that affected most internet service providers Saturday night. Yet government officials have not publicly addressed the cause.

Many Iranian users complained that while ordinary citizens lost access, accounts linked to state figures continued operating normally. One user, Soheil, posted: “People don’t have internet, but government supporters still do. Cut theirs too, so they stop getting on everyone’s nerves.”

Another user, Masoud, questioned how prominent establishment figures like former ministers Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi remained active on X despite the blackout.

Zarif had earlier posted that his account was limited by platform owner Elon Musk—prompting backlash.

“Kicking 90 million Iranians offline, then crying about a missing blue check,” one user wrote in response.

It comes as the cyber warfare between Israel and Iran steps up in spite of the ceasefire.

A shadow war of mutual cyber-attacks between Iran and Israel has replaced missile fire and air strikes as a fragile truce holds, security experts told Iran International.

"Although the Iran-Israel ceasefire has paused direct military engagement, cyber operations have intensified," Marwan Hachem, co-founder of FearsOff cybersecurity experts, told Iran International.

“Since the truce began, nearly 450 cyberattacks have been recorded against Israeli targets—many attributed to pro-Iran hacker groups,” he said.

Attacks on Iran's finance, infrastructure and energy complex, Hachem said, were fewer but more sophisticated and have been traced to actors linked to Israeli intelligence.

"Post-ceasefire, there are only about 10 known cyberattacks by pro-Israeli actors against Iran ... the fewer Israeli attacks tend to be more targeted and impactful.”

During the war, a pro-Israeli hacking group known as Predatory Sparrow claimed credit for a major cyberattack on Iran’s Bank Sepah.

The group also later said it had drained around $90 million from Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, adding it had posted Nobitex source code lists on X.

In spite of a ceasefire, however, the cyber war goes on.

“The era of silent digital aggression has arrived, and even allies may become targets in this murky domain of quiet offensives. The illusion of peace doesn’t extend to cyberspace. In fact, we expect cyber operations to grow more aggressive—only more covert. Silence is no indicator of safety.”

Daily attacks

Israeli cyber expert Boaz Dolev, from Clearsky Cyber Security, said there are daily attempts to hack small to medium sized businesses in Israel, and as yet, have not succeeded in attacking critical infrastructure.

“There is a lot of smoke all of the time. Iran didn’t disrupt Israel’s infrastructure by cyber-attacks but some Israeli companies were hacked and some sensitive information was leaked."

“We think they’ve breached dozens of Israeli companies, small to medium sized ones," Dolev added. "Most of them are providing services to large organizations in Israel so there is some sensitive information that was inside."

“They tried to do it by using vulnerabilities in computer systems, or sending it as phishing, but as much as I can say, they didn’t succeed most of the time. The ones they breached and hacked, they can start the destruction process, and some companies have had servers hacked and deleted.”

One cyber expert in Israel who asked not to be named, said Israel remains “much stronger than Iran in the cyber arena”.

“They can do whatever they want in Iran. The question is how they’re using the power and who you’re going to attack, when, and what will be the damage,” he added.

“This is why they decided to attack the financial system in Iran," the expert added. "It was a message for Iran that said the infrastructure is more vulnerable than they can imagine.”

The group urged the Communications Ministry and the Infrastructure Company to “immediately end the deliberate disruptions to online access.

“Over 400,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, whose livelihoods millions of Iranians depend on, are facing complete collapse," the open letter dated July 2 said.

Internet access in Iran was disrupted on June 13, the first day of the 12-day war with Israel, and was completely cut on June 17. Partial service has since resumed, but connection speeds and access remain severely limited.

State media defends blackouts citing cyber war

On Saturday, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency said the disruptions may reflect a large cyber war targeting national infrastructure, describing the attacks as organized and part of a “hidden battle growing more severe by the day.”

During the war, officials justified the shutdowns as a measure to block Israeli reconnaissance drones allegedly using Iranian SIM cards and to disrupt intelligence gathering via WhatsApp. But military and communications experts have dismissed those remarks.

“I categorically reject the Islamic Republic’s claims. No evidence has been presented to show that Israel uses SIM cards for drones," Mehdi Yahyanejad, an expert in internet technologies, told Iran International.

"Even if that were the case, a nationwide internet shutdown is not a logical solution," he said.

The daughter of top military commander Ali Shadmani—killed shortly after his appointment to lead Khatam-al-Anbia Central Headquarters—said her father carried no smart devices during the war, and that “Israel’s precision targeting went far beyond WhatsApp or traditional espionage.”

Her remarks followed accusations from Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s Passive Defense Organization, who said WhatsApp was used to locate and kill Iranian commanders—a charge Meta has denied.

Layoffs, collapse feared in tech sector

The Internet Business Association, in its letter, cited ongoing disruptions—DNS tampering, throttling, protocol filtering, and loss of global access—as already triggering mass layoffs, stalled investment, and startup shutdowns.

“We are witnessing a broad wave of job cuts, halted investment in the startup ecosystem, and announcements of company closures—that is to say, bankruptcies,” the letter said.

The group warned that continued interference “threatens public trust, accelerates elite migration, and risks the death of Iran’s tech sector,” demanding an immediate end to all forms of service degradation.

Iran ranked near the bottom in global internet freedom last year. According to the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association, the country is placed among the lowest in speed and reliability out of 100 surveyed nations.

Surveys suggest 84% of Iranians rely on VPNs to access free internet.

The data, provided by a research group at Oregon State University, suggest that six Iranian missiles hit military targets across northern, central, and southern Israel, including what the report describes as a major air base, an intelligence facility, and a logistics center.

“The radar signatures we analyzed show definitive blast patterns at five separate military sites,” Corey Scher, a researcher with the Oregon State team, told The Telegraph. “These are consistent with missile strikes that likely occurred during the height of the conflict.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to confirm or deny the reported damage. “What we can say is that all relevant units maintained functional continuity throughout the operation,” a military spokesman told The Telegraph.

The Telegraph reported that the missile strikes described in the radar data appear to be separate from the 36 previously reported impacts on residential and industrial areas, which caused widespread damage.

Iranian missile penetration increased during conflict, report says

According to The Telegraph, the proportion of Iranian missiles that penetrated Israeli air defenses increased during the war, rising from about 2 percent early in the conflict to roughly 16 percent by day seven.

The report did not offer definitive reasons for the increase, but cited expert suggestions that the causes “may include the rationing of a limited stock of interceptor missiles on the Israeli side and improved firing tactics and the possible use of more sophisticated missiles by Iran.”

Iranian officials told The Telegraph that the use of simultaneous drone and missile attacks was intended to confuse Israeli defense systems. “Many [drones] don’t even get through—but they still cause confusion,” one unnamed Iranian official said.

The Israeli media on Friday quoted a military official as saying that Iran began the conflict with around 400 missile launchers and that “we destroyed more than 200 of them, which caused a bottleneck in their missile operations.”

The same official estimated that Iran started the war with 2,000 to 2,500 ballistic missiles and is pursuing mass production that could dramatically expand its arsenal.

A more comprehensive analysis of the damage to both Israeli and Iranian infrastructure is expected from the Oregon State research group within two weeks, according to the report.

The group uses radar-based methods that detect changes in the built environment, but it acknowledged that full confirmation of military site hits would require either on-the-ground access or high-resolution satellite imagery.

Officials now cite rising demand and long-standing shortfalls in generation capacity as the cause.

The grid is unable to meet current consumption levels, prompting scheduled two-hour power outages daily, Iran's state electricity company chief, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said. “The demand exceeds production,” he said, adding that outages would decrease only if energy use fell.

“The shortages will ease whenever the energy crisis is reduced to a minimum,” he said, a vague promise that has done little to calm public anger.

Iranian citizens have begun circulating videos of renewed blackouts in cities like Ahvaz, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 50°C.

“After the war ended, the Islamic Republic went back to factory settings,” one resident said in a video sent to Iran International.

Electricity generators, once confined to bakeries, were now being used by most businesses, driving up noise and pollution, he added.

Subsidy system overhaul planned

In parallel, Mohammad Bahrami Seifabadi, a lawmaker on the parliamentary energy committee, unveiled a new two-tier pricing scheme for power and gas.

“Each person will have a fixed energy quota and pay full cost beyond that,” he said, framing it as a replacement for Iran’s current subsidies system.

“Instead of subsidizing consumption, energy support will go to each national ID and individual,” Bahrami added.

Temporary stability during war

Power outages had temporarily eased during the recent 12-day confrontation with Israel, with many workplaces shut. Officials implied the grid had improved, but analysts say the drop in usage, not any reform, was responsible.

“Power cuts during the war were because everything was closed, but the government claimed the credit,” said Reza Gheibi, an Iran International journalist. “Now the deficiencies are back in the open.”

Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi promised earlier this week that nighttime blackouts would be minimized. “If necessary, disruptions will occur more during the day,” he said in early June.

Successive Iranian summers have seen repeated electricity shortages, often described by officials as “imbalances” between supply and demand.

Energy experts attribute the crisis to underinvestment, dilapidated infrastructure, and a chronic failure to expand power generation, which is estimated to lag by roughly 14,000 megawatts.

A resident of Ahvaz said the latest outages have been especially punishing: “It feels like they are making us pay for the war with Israel.”