Iran Internet Shutdown Cripples Online Economy

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's prolonged internet shutdown, now in its fourth month, has crippled the country's online economy, forcing businesses from fashion designers to retailers to halt operations and lay off workers amid an already struggling market.

The blackout, affecting the nation's 90 million people for most of 2026, began partially in January during anti-government protests and escalated to a full cutoff of global web access on February 28, coinciding with the start of war launched by the United States and Israel. Iranian authorities have maintained the measure as a wartime necessity, even after an uneasy truce, despite growing economic backlash compounded by strikes on industries and a U.S. blockade.

Fashion designer Amen Khademi, preparing a photoshoot in her Tehran studio for a Persian-motif jacket, has recorded no sales since the shutdown. Her Instagram page, with over 30,000 followers that served as her primary storefront, now sits inactive. "The internet outage in the past four months has completely destroyed not only my business, but many online businesses," Khademi said. Her model, Farnaz Ojaghloo, a fitness coach, has lost modeling gigs and income from online...