TRANSCRIPT
For days now, Iran's authorities have cut access to the internet and phone lines, preventing 85 million people from communicating with others outside the country.
The week-long outage has further increased concerns about the extent of lethal force and violence being used against protesters, who have been warned by authorities that participation in protests will attract the death penalty.
In Australia, Mohsen Haghshenas is anxiously awaiting a call from his two daughters in Iran.
"On the one hand, a feeling of fear, worry, anxiety, and nightmares, and on the other hand, a sense of freedom and pride in my compatriots, in my country.”
Mr Haghshenas sought refuge in Australia in 2023, after being jailed for his own protest activity in Iran.
It has been almost week since he last heard from his daughters, when the internet and phone lines were first shut down by authorities attempting to quell protests that have now spread to all 31 provinces.
Mohsen Haghshenas recalls the last conversation he had with one of his daughters just before the shutdown took effect.
"She was very scared. She was very worried, and she was telling me that she wished she were here with me.”
International phone links were temporarily restored on Tuesday, but only for outgoing calls - and connectivity has been patchy, with regular drop outs.
Protesters looking for ways to bypass the communications blackout, have turned to using Starlink satellite service owned by Elon Musk.
But there are reports that Iran's authorities have sought to throttle access by seizing satellite receivers; and using jammers to cut satellite internet performance by as much as 80 per cent in parts of the country.
Alp Toker is the founder of internet monitoring group NetBlocks.
“The jamming is by no means total. It does cover a large geographic area, but it doesn't cover the entire country or even entire cities. So that means that there is still an essential flow of information... We also know that people are able to drive up to the borders and get cell connectivity from neighbouring countries, even from neighbouring villages and Wi-Fi. There are other alternatives. They're just slightly harder to use.”
Holistic Resilience is a US group that works to expand information access in repressive or closed societies.
It says SpaceX is now waiving fees for use of the Starlink satellite service in Iran.
Another solution being proposed to restore communications involves tech companies, using its satellites to work as mobile phone towers in space, providing direct connectivity and mobile data to people in Iran.
London-based cyberespionage investigator Nariman Gharib says that option has real potential.
“A satellite-based service that connects directly to regular smartphones without needing any special equipment... nothing the regime can confiscate or destroy. And for Iranians, this would be transformative. You know, they could communicate freely, organise, share what's happening with the world and access uncensored information. So the regime’s main tool of oppression has always been silencing the people. I believe this technology takes that power away from it.”
US President Donald Trump is holding a briefing with his national security team to discuss steps the US could take against Iran.
Administration officials say that includes military strikes, sanctions and cyber attacks.
Speaking ahead of the briefing, Mr Trump was asked to clarify an earlier statement on social media where he urged people in Iran to continue protesting - and assured them that "help is on its way".
JOURNALIST: "You said to Iran this morning that help is on the way for protesters. What did you mean by that? What kind of help?."
TRUMP: "You're going to have to figure that one out. I'm sorry.."
TRUMP ON NUMBERS OF KILLED IN IRAN: "Nobody's been able to give me an accurate number. I have heard numbers from everything's a lot. One is a lot, but I've heard numbers much lower, and I've heard numbers much higher. We'll be knowing. We're probably going to find out over the next 24 hours. I think it's a lot.”
Mr Trump says he has cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the killing of protesters stop.
He previously vowed the US would get involved if protesters were killed, a line crossed days ago.
Associate Professor of International Relations Kamran Matin, at the University of Sussex, says Donald Trump has his own agenda when it comes to Iran.
“Trump's primary aim is to change the behaviour of Iranian regime, not necessarily the regime itself. And therefore, it has used the pressure coming from the protesters internally... to extract, to get the concessions it wants from Iran. And these concessions primarily are about Iran's nuclear project, which US wants to be practically ceased in terms of enrichment inside Iran, as well as limiting the range of Iran's missile so that Israel is not in danger. And if these aims are achieved, I doubt that Trump would care much about the kind of quite frightening number of protesters being killed.”
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has verified through its network the deaths of 2,403 protesters over the last fortnight.
Reuters newsagency reports an unnamed Iranian official indicating the death toll could be much higher, at about 2,000.
On Monday, Iran's government attempted to show they had control of the situation, urging their supporters to attend counterprotests.
State television in Iran broadcast images of the pro-government demonstrations around the country.
Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, says the internet would be restored in coordination with security services, but did not provide a timeline.
He told Al Jazeera Arabic, Iran's authorities felt it had no choice but to cut communications, blaming foreign powers for fuelling the protests.
He says Iran has not forgotten the strikes carried out by the US and Israel, targeting their military and nuclear sites in June last year.
"The recent war lasted 12 days - and January 8 (first day of internet blackout) was the 13th day of that war. What the enemy failed to achieve in that war, it sought to achieve in another way by steering tension within Iranian authority. Therefore, our security forces had to intervene and make the decision to cut internet. For this reason, the communication of these terrorist groups had to be cut and co-ordination among them had to be prevented, which was achieved with God's help. After three days, the situation came under control. A major portion of those terrorist agents were arrested. And we have their confessions.”
The ongoing protests present the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical rulers since the 2022 protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he believes we could be seeing the end of the regime.
"If a regime can only keep itself in power by force, then it’s effectively at an end. I believe we are now seeing the final days and weeks of this regime. In any case, it has no legitimacy through elections in the population. The population is now rising up against this regime. I hope there is a possibility to end this conflict peacefully.”
Other analysts have urged caution in reaching that conclusion right now, saying further signs are needed, such as fractures in the Shi'ite clerical leadership, military or security forces.
Australia director at Human Rights Watch, Daniela Gavshon says rights groups have been documenting the pattern of repression tactics used by Iran's leadership - a job that's made harder by the communications blackout.
“We are very concerned about how high the death toll is. We are really concerned that it is higher than the reports that we're getting. But what we're concerned about is that we just don't know. And we're concerned that the Iranian authorities are able to conceal what they're doing by this internet shutdown. It's a tactic that has been used in the past. And it's a tactic that they're using now. So it is really, really important that governments are putting the pressure on the Iranian authorities to lift the internet shutdown so that we can get a better picture of what's going on. What we've seen in the past protests is not only the arrests and the torture, we see the beating, rape. We see all sorts of rights violations that stem from these violent protest crackdowns.”
In August last year, Australia severed diplomatic ties with Iran, after Australian intelligence officials said they found evidence that Iran directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
