Amid a cacophony of international reporting on rapid-fire military developments, hot-take opinions and sweeping analysis, what is most striking about Iran is not what we hear, but what we do not.
The limited amount of reliable imagery, firsthand testimony, and verified data from the people of Iran isn’t an accident, but the result of the Iranian regime’s deliberate strategy to silence the voices of the Iranian people.
This is a well-worn playbook: The regime employs an exquisitely rehearsed scenario: Cut the internet to stifle communications, instill fear to suppress protests, and threaten and arrest those who dare to speak up.
We see the results today: An echoing silence where the voices of the Iranian people should be.
Since January, when Iranians took to the streets to protest an increasingly severe economic crisis and the collapse of the Iranian currency, Iranian authorities have imposed a nationwide internet and telecommunications shutdown in response to mass protests. At times, connectivity has dropped to near zero. The regime has blocked citizens from communicating with each other, with the Iranian diaspora, and with international media.
This deliberate isolation of the Iranian people from each other and the world has profound implications, with costs that are both personal and political.
For the Iranian people themselves, day-to-day life under the blackout is brutal. Since the beginning of the latest military action, Iranians face increasingly unaffordable food and supply costs triggered by raging inflation and an increasingly devalued currency. Overseas families struggle to check on loved ones. Businesses can’t place orders, send invoices or contact employees. As the conflict continues, with active airstrikes and drone warfare, the average Iranian exists in a vacuum of credible information. The economy has struggled for decades due to economic mismanagement and the impact of sanctions.
The blackout enables repression and suppresses dissent. Without digital tools, citizens are blocked from coordinating collective action, warning of threats, or sharing information. The January crackdown marked one of its deadliest actions in decades, but facts here, too, were obfuscated by the regime.
Western media reported that more than 6,000 people were killed, with physicians and human rights organizations outside Iran estimating more than 33,000 dead. While human rights groups have detailed credible reports illustrating how the regime’s security forces carried out mass killings of protesters and large-scale detentions, the deliberate obscuring of facts through intimidation of families and witnesses has clouded reporting.
The true scale of the January crackdown remains uncertain, as do the regime’s actions today, although spotty reporting from Tehran indicates house-to-house searches to root out dissent, the installation of checkpoints and random stops of civilians.
In this climate of fear and uncertainty, the repression of Iranian citizens continues unchecked and unseen, and opportunities for accountability wither as evidence disappears and truth itself becomes contested.
This silence shapes the world’s understanding of the conflict. Foreign journalists cannot verify events due to travel restrictions and sharply curtailed access in Iran, while Iranian journalists have been threatened with arrest. Iran’s few independent media outlets have been shuttered, and journalists have fled the country.
On March 10, Iran’s judiciary dictated that filming or reporting of military strikes would be viewed as evidence of “cooperation with a hostile enemy.” The regime has recently expanded threats to broadcasters outside of Iran, threatening Farsi-language broadcaster Iran International, based in London, of attempting to “wage psychological warfare against the Iranian people” and issuing “explicit warnings” to countries hosting satellites that carry the channel’s broadcasts.
The world is, of course, watching, but while international scrutiny of Iran is growing, it is increasingly detached from the reality of Iranians inside the country.
As this conflict continues, the absence of Iranian voices cannot be interpreted as the absence of abuse. Due to the regime’s brutal repression, the voices of those directly affected are the least heard. What we do not see or hear from Iran isn’t an accident. Autocratic control is not just about restricting speech; it’s designed to control the conditions under which reality itself is understood.
The Bush Institute will continue to seek to identify, support and amplify the voices of Iranians as they are determined to set their own future.
