• Two-week blackout tests system where web access becomes a vetted privilege.
• Regime insiders use “white SIM cards” for unrestricted access, while 85 million citizens remain cut off.
• Irancell’s CEO was fired for delaying the shutdown.

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Following a repressive crackdown on protests, the government is now building a system that grants web access only to security-vetted elites, while locking 90 million citizens inside an intranet.

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This is what makes Iran’s attempt unique: Other authoritarian states built walls before their populations went online. Iran is trying to seal off a connected economy already in freefall.

The system is called Barracks Internet, according to confidential planning documents obtained by Filterwatch. Under this architecture, access to the global web will be granted only through a strict security whitelist.

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The idea of tiered internet access is not new in Iran. Since at least 2013, the regime has quietly issued “white SIM cards,” giving unrestricted global internet access to approximately 16,000 people. The system gained public attention in November 2025 when X’s location feature revealed that certain accounts, including the communications minister, were connecting directly from inside Iran, despite X being blocked since 2009.

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The economic costs of the blackout are staggering. Iran’s deputy communications minister pegged the daily losses at as much as $4.3 million. NetBlocks estimates the true cost exceeds $37 million daily. More than 10 million Iranians depend directly on digital platforms for their livelihoods.

Tipax, one of Iran’s largest private delivery companies handling about 320,000 daily shipments before the protests, now processes fewer than a few hundred, according to Filterwatch. The company operates a nationwide logistics network comparable to FedEx in the U.S. market.

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Technical experts doubt the regime can sustain Barracks Internet without crippling the economy.

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