Iran regime cuts nationwide internet access as protests claim 44 lives across major cities

Iran has been plunged into a nationwide internet blackout as anti-regime protests intensify, severely restricting communication across the country as demonstrations enter their second week and the death toll reaches 44, according to reports.

Live network data from NetBlocks showed internet traffic collapsing in the troubled nation on Thursday evening, shortly after calls circulated for mass protests at 8 p.m. local time.

Before news of the latest killings came in, President Donald Trump, in an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, once again warned the regime if they start killing people that “they will be hit very hard.” 

Asked by Hewitt if he had a message for the Iranian people, Trump said: You should feel strongly about freedom. There’s nothing like freedom. You’re brave people.”

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The State Department’s Persian feed on X also restated his warning from his interview with Hugh Hewitt about the regime in Farsi. 

Ali Safavi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital that the internet shutdown began earlier in the day.

“Around 1 p.m. local time, the internet traffic dropped,” he said, adding that there were widespread reports “that the regime had cut off the internet.”

NetBlocks said the outage followed “a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country,” while the Associated Press reported that telephone lines were also cut in parts of Iran.

Safavi said the blackout coincided with violent confrontations in several regions.

“The internet was cut off in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces as battles erupted,” he said.

He also pointed to unrest in Isfahan, Iran’s third-largest city with around 2.3 million residents, saying, “State radio and the TV station were set on fire by rebellious youth.”

As the communications blackout deepened, the confirmed death toll from the unrest rose sharply.

The NCRI reported on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, that at least 44 protesters had been killed by Iranian security forces since the uprising began.

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The group announced the names of 13 additional victims that day, describing them as “martyrs” of the nationwide uprising.

Seven of those newly identified were from Lordegan, including a woman and two teenagers. 

According to the NCRI, the victims were killed by the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces using live ammunition.

The protests were sparked in December by the collapse of Iran’s currency and soaring inflation, but they have since evolved into a broader movement demanding the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

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The unrest entered its 12th day with general strikes spreading across major commercial centers and street clashes intensifying, particularly in western Iran.

Safavi described the scale of the demonstrations as unprecedented.

“Millions of Iranians from north to south and east to west have been out in the streets until nighttime,” he said. 

“Over the past 12 days, more young people have laid down their lives to free Iran.”

In a statement shared on X, Reza Pahlavi wrote, “Millions of Iranians demanded their freedom tonight. In response, the regime in Iran has cut all lines of communication. It has shut down the Internet. It has cut landlines. It may even attempt to jam satellite signals.”

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In Lordegan, security forces had reportedly killed eight protesters in a single day, while clashes also left a regime colonel and two Basij members dead.

Elsewhere, protesters torched government buildings in cities, including Lumar in Ilam province. Safavi said symbols of the state have been targeted nationwide.

“Statues have been destroyed and set on fire,”  Safavi said, noting that “the day before, buses were set alight in Mashhad and another torched.”

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Footage circulating online and cited by Reuters showed protesters in Mashhad ripping an Iranian flag in half amid chants against the leadership.

In Tehran, Safavi said demonstrators overturned a police car in Kaj Square, an affluent area near the Alborz Mountains, as crowds shouted, “Death to the oppressor!”