In January 2026, the Islamic Republic of Iran initiated one of the most sophisticated, hermetic, and technologically advanced internet blackouts in recorded history. Triggered by widespread civil unrest stemming from the catastrophic devaluation of the Iranian Rial and worsening economic conditions, the regime deployed a “Digital Iron Curtain” that fundamentally altered the landscape of digital authoritarianism. This event was not merely a repetition of the crude “kill switch” tactics utilized in 2019; rather, it represented the mature deployment of the National Information Network (NIN), a parallel domestic intranet designed to isolate the populace from the global web while keeping internal state commerce alive.
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