Written by: Liam Kelly
Compiled by: Chopper, Foresight News
Since early January, Iran has been experiencing a large-scale internet shutdown, but some resourceful individuals have begun using decentralized technology to connect with the outside world.
During a brief window of internet connectivity amid the severe internet blockade in Iran this month, Darius managed to send a short message via Telegram.
"They are afraid of the videos protesters upload online, so they turned off all the street lights," he shared on January 14 with the Persian-language community Sentinel, of which he is a long-term member.
"People have to walk using their phone flashlights; everything is terrible. They have even broken North Korea's record in censorship."
This was about a week after the collapse of the Iranian rial (Iran's currency) sparked violent protests.
Since then, Darius has been switching between various network routing tools, including Sentinel's decentralized virtual private network (dVPN), to continue bypassing the government's strict communication blockade.
The tools he relies on include:
OpenVPN: A widely used tool that hides users' IP addresses;
Shadowsocks: Based on the SOCKS5 protocol, it disguises network traffic as random data;
V2Ray: Uses the security certificates of legitimate websites to conceal users' real identities.
In information exclusively provided to DL News, he described life under a violent regime with near-total internet disconnection.
"We are living in hell, with no internet, no money, no media, no support whatsoever," wrote Darius on January 14, using a pseudonym to protect his identity. "We need help; people cannot resist with bare hands—they shoot us with shotguns and AK-47s."
Digital Iron Curtain
In response to the ongoing protests that began last December and have spread to multiple areas beyond the capital Tehran, the Iranian government implemented the most severe communication shutdown in the regime's nearly 50-year history on January 8.
Adam Burns, co-founder of the Australian Internet Association, stated that the Iranian government's move has a dual purpose.
"This is a standard communication control measure, aimed at organizationally stifling protest activities and preventing international exposure," he told DL News. "Essentially, it's a form of risk management."
During this period, decentralized networks and traffic obfuscation tools became critical lifelines for the people.
Reports indicate that since last August, up to 90% of Iranians have used some form of circumvention tool to connect to the outside world.
Such networks are typically more resilient than centralized networks, which have a single database or point of failure. To destroy a decentralized network, the government must shut down every self-hosted node one by one or implement a complete nationwide internet blackout.
Other tools, such as Starlink, the distributed satellite network operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX, have also become vital communication channels for the people. Since systems like Starlink lack a single local node, their distributed infrastructure can provide critical network connectivity even under intense censorship.
However, reports note that such large-scale internet restrictions cost the country billions of dollars in economic losses.
"By providing decentralized, highly resilient network access to resist even the most aggressive censorship, we help keep information flowing, allowing the brave people inside Iran to document and share the violence concealed by the internet shutdown," Sentinel CEO Aleksandr Litreev told DL News.
Of course, in a complete internet blackout, almost no network can function.
However, during the shutdown, people like Darius can seize brief windows of connectivity, as the regime needs to balance silencing criticism with maintaining economic operations.
"It's a cyclical cat-and-mouse game," Burns said.
Using his combination of tools, Darius disguises his network requests as ordinary traffic, directing them to large Iranian e-commerce websites that the government keeps online for economic purposes. This encrypted data is then tunneled to overseas servers that can access the external internet.
This is not foolproof, nor is it sustainable, but it allows Darius to send a few Telegram messages during brief connectivity windows.
"Once the traffic pattern is exposed as an unauthenticated connection, it is immediately cut off," Darius wrote on January 23.
Chaos in Iran
Over the past four weeks, Iran has descended into total chaos.
On December 28, people gathered in Tehran's Grand Bazaar to protest the government's handling of the currency collapse. By the end of 2025, the Iranian rial had hit a historic low, with 1 US dollar exchanging for 1.4 million rials, partly due to severe international sanctions and financial mismanagement by Iran's leadership. The US imposed sanctions on Iran to prevent its nuclear weapons program and stop its support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis.
"It's like holding a shitcoin listed only on isolated exchanges, its price falling every day, until you have to use this worthless currency to buy basic necessities like milk and meat," Darius wrote. "Worse, the next day, the same items cost even more."
Iran is a theocracy, with the vast majority of power held by the Supreme Leader, cleric Ali Khamenei. Although Iran has an elected president and parliament, their power is limited. The people have long criticized the regime, and the rial's collapse has completely changed the situation.
"Generally, people don't revolt for lofty ideals like democracy or universal suffrage; they rebel over things that affect their daily lives," Tallha Abdulrazaq, a researcher at the University of Exeter's Institute for Strategy and Security, told DL News. "As long as basic needs are met and there is hope for the future, people are more willing to live under authoritarian rule."
After the internet shutdown on January 8, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij militia began clearing protestors with live ammunition.
Due to the internet blackout, it has been difficult for people on the ground and multiple human rights organizations to verify the death toll. The Iran Human Rights Organization reported at least 3,428 deaths; London-based Persian-language news channel Iran International, citing internal documents from the Supreme National Security Council and the Presidential Office, reported at least 12,000 deaths. Two senior officials from Iran's Health Ministry told Time magazine that as many as 30,000 may have been killed between January 8 and 9.
As for overthrowing the regime, Abdulrazaq believes it is almost impossible without international intervention. "The Iranian government may not have invested in public services, but it has invested heavily in security agencies. Therefore, without external support, I don't see how these protests can overthrow the Iranian regime," he said.
