PARIS: A senior Iranian official said on Monday that he hoped internet access for businesses would be restored within the next two days, after authorities imposed a blackout during a wave of anti-government protests.
Rights groups say the internet blackout has provided cover for a deadly crackdown that has resulted in the death of several protesters and military officials.
"We hope that companies' access to the international internet will be restored within the next day or two," Hossein Rafieian, a senior official on digital economy matters, told Iran's Mehr news agency.
He noted that the final decision was outside his office's "direct authority," but said "the issue is being followed up continuously through consultations with the relevant bodies."
Internet monitor Netblocks said Iran had been cut off from the global internet for 18 days.
"Gaps in the filternet are being tightened to limit circumvention while whitelisted regime accounts promote the Islamic Republic's narrative," it added.
Protests over economic grievances began in late December, but turned into a mass movement against the Islamic Republic, with huge street demonstrations for several days from Jan. 8, the day the shutdown was imposed.
NGOs tracking deaths from the ensuing crackdown have said their task has been impeded by the blackout, warning that confirmed figures are likely to be far lower than the actual toll.
Giving their first official toll from the protests, Iranian authorities last week said 3,117 people were killed, the majority of whom they described as members of the security forces or innocent bystanders killed by "rioters."
Iran's deputy telecommunications minister, Ehsan Chitsaz, was recently quoted in local media as saying the shutdown was estimated to have cost between 4 trillion and 6 trillion rials per day — around $3 to $4 million.
NetBlocks has provided a much higher estimate, saying each day costs Iran more than $37 million.
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