Iranian Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi confirmed that the government had suspended Internet services amid widespread protests in the country, triggered by the cutting of government subsidies on fuel prices.

Internet service providers were instructed to suspend the Internet by the National Security Council. Jahromi said that the 'necessary follow-up has been underway since yesterday to normalize the situation and to allow companies to re-establish the internet'. He denied, however, accusations that a nationwide 'internal Internet' was being set-up to permanently replace global Internet access, and argued that the actions the government took were to preserve national security.

In a recent development, the USA imposed sanctions on Jahromi which block any Jahromi property under US jurisdiction. He is directly held responsible for the Internet blackout causing the Iranian economy to lose billions of dollars and has chilling effects on human rights.