Bloomberg Television
@markets·3.2M subscribers·95.6K videos
Iran’s Record Internet Block Stokes Fears Crackdown May Continue
Posted
January 16, 2026
Views
2,967
Likes
16
Comments
4
Engagement
January 16, 2026
2,967
16
4
0.67%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
5:31Now PlayingBloomberg News Middle East reporter Golnar Motevalli discusses the latest out of Iran as fears rise that Tehran’s crackdown on protesters may persist.
Iran is enduring its most extensive internet blackout on record, activists say, raising fears that Tehran’s crackdown on protesters may persist despite assurances it would ease punishments.
The internet shutdown has lasted eight days, longer than the blackout during the country’s 2019 demonstrations, global internet monitor Netblocks said on Friday.
The outage is continuing even as protests died down following a violent wave of repression, choking the flow of information coming out of the country and cutting off Iranians from the rest of the world. Nearly 3,500 people have died and at least 20,000 have been arrested in the demonstrations since late December, according to Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group. Other estimates suggest the number of fatalities may be significantly higher.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged on Wednesday not to execute protesters, after US President Donald Trump raised fears of a military strike by urging Iranians to continue opposing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule and saying “help is on the way.” Yet, the risk of military action remains.
Elon Musk’s Starlink, a satellite internet service that works separately from the national telecommunications network, also agreed to waive its subscription fee for Iranians after Trump called on the company to help restore communications. While Starlink is illegal in Iran, there may be about 50,000 terminals in the country that were smuggled in on the black market, according to Iranian human rights activist Ahmad Ahmadian. The service has provided a small amount of bandwidth for Iranians to share social media footage with the world.
--------
More on Bloomberg Television and Markets
Like this video? Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any videos from Bloomberg Markets & Finance
Visit for business news & analysis, uptotheminute market data, features, profiles and more.
Connect with Bloomberg Television on:
Connect with Bloomberg Business on:
More from Bloomberg:
Bloomberg Radio
Bloomberg Surveillance
Bloomberg Politics
Bloomberg Originals
Watch more on YouTube:
Bloomberg Technology
Bloomberg Originals
Bloomberg Quicktake
Bloomberg Espanol
Bloomberg Podcasts
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
