Iran Tests Academic “Whitelists” Amid Nationwide 2026 Blackout

Iran has currently severed all access to the international internet amid domestic unrest, with observers noting a nationwide blackout of global connectivity lasting for 24 consecutive hours. Beginning at 15:05 local time on 9 January (11:35 UTC), a negligible surge of traffic was detected from autonomous systems belonging to a small group of Iranian academic institutions, constituting just 0.01% of Iran’s usual volume.

Analysis of this data suggests the restoration of connectivity to these specific academic ASNs may have been a transient trial, with AS29068 (University of Tehran) showing traffic resuming at 11:35 before dropping back to zero by 15:15.

Similar patterns were seen for AS12660 (Sharif University of Technology), AS43965 (Tehran University of Medical Sciences), and AS57745 (Tarbiat Modares University), implying a meticulously orchestrated test of “whitelisting” certain connection types or prioritising core educational backbones. Tehran accounted for the lion’s share of activity at 49.6%, while other regions’ universities likely enjoyed brief connectivity windows.

Authorities have been silent on the hiatus, and while international visibility is reduced, a massive domestic intranet is believed to remain operational to sustain essential services.