Iran’s internet blackout has lasted over 36 hours, cutting off 90% of online traffic as protests grow. Digital rights expert Amir Rashidi said international calls are blocked and domestic mobile phones lose service. This shutdown is stronger than Iran’s 2019 digital blackout and tougher than other countries’ past blocks, like Egypt in 2011 or Afghanistan recently. "There is no reception on the phones. There is no antenna. It’s like you are living in the middle of nowhere," Rashidi said. Even Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet, a vital link during 2022 protests, is being jammed in many areas. Despite this, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted at least 12 messages on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, criticizing the US and Donald Trump. Internet expert Doug Madory noted the shutdown is more precise and could last longer because the government is allowing limited access to key sites like Telegram, Twitter, and Instagram for propaganda. "If they want to put out their propaganda they need to have access to Telegram, they need to have access to Twitter, they need to access Instagram," Rashidi explained. Unlike Egypt’s full internet cut that hurt government work, Iran seems to have created a whitelist to let officials and certain channels stay online. Iran briefly eased the blackout for university websites on Friday but then cut service again. This shows it can fine-tune its censorship tools. The country aims for a national internet like China’s, where local users connect but the world is blocked. Rashidi said this model isn’t fully ready as some linked sites are still down. Madory suspects this blackout is just the beginning. "This might be for the long haul," he said. "I’ve been doing this for a while and I think it’s going to be a big one."