Internet Cutoff Has Become a New Source of Discontent
The spokesperson of the Technology Faction of Parliament says lack of internet access causes inflammation and stress and has turned into a new source of discontent. An official from the petroleum products supply chain also reports problems for gas station operators in purchasing fuel online.
The spokesperson of the Innovation and Technology Ecosystem Faction of Parliament announced this faction’s proposal to the Supreme National Security Council to normalize internet in some calm provinces of Iran. Hamideh Zarabadi said: “Normalizing internet conveys a message of calming the atmosphere to society.”
The Parliament News Agency quoted the representative of Qazvin, Abyek and Alborz as saying: “Disruption in the internet network today has itself become a new source of discontent among people.” He added that internet outages exist even in areas where there are no problems, and many businesses in cyberspace have been shut down due to internet cuts, which causes public discontent.
Zarabadi stated that lack of internet access causes inflammation and stress, and creates the feeling that the country is in chaos. Regarding the national internet, he said if people are to use it, necessary capacity-building should be done and people should be given the necessary preparation.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Minister of Communications, said domestic internet has no meaning and is a “cartoonish and very incorrect phrase.” He emphasized that since Sunday, November 26, efforts have been made so that with the normalization of conditions, the country’s security council will issue the necessary authorization to restore internet: “Internet cutoff has dealt many blows to services and people, but preserving national security is very important… This morning I spoke with various groups involved in this matter, such as the Ministry of Interior, to get internet restored faster.”
Meanwhile, the head of the petroleum products supply chain companies association announced that internet outage has caused problems for gas station operators in fuel purchases. Nasser Raeisi Fard also said that some people have gone to gas stations and refused to pay in protest, while this money belongs to the station workers.
Ali Rabiee, the government’s spokesperson, announced at the weekly press conference on Monday, November 27, that the government is trying to restore normal internet connection within today and tomorrow. Rabiee added that the banking system network and internet taxis have no problems. This is while internet banking services have been suspended and customers’ attempts are met with “access denied” messages.
Internet in Iran was cut off from 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 25, following widespread protests against gasoline price hikes. The country’s security council announced this outage would be 24 hours, but after 50 hours have passed, users remain unable to access cyberspace.
Source: DW
