Iran flag on the pushpin and red threads on the wooden map. Travel or logistic routes. Influence in geopolitics and world economy. 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

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – Iran’s Islamic regime has effectively erected a modern-day Berlin Wall — not of concrete and barbed wire, but of cables, servers, and state-controlled silence — as it plunges the country into a near-total internet blackout to crush nationwide protests and shield its violence from global scrutiny.

As Iran remains largely disconnected from the global internet, the crackdown has intensified on every front. The regime is no longer merely suppressing demonstrations; it is isolating an entire population, cutting more than 90 million people off from one another and from the outside world in what critics describe as a deliberate strategy of digital imprisonment.

According to NetBlocks, Iran’s shutdown has now lasted more than a week and a half, leaving the population “cut off from the world and unable to contact their loved ones.” Internet traffic data indicates the regime is implementing a “whitelisting” system, selectively allowing access only to a narrow list of government-approved websites — a tactic reminiscent of Cold War-era information control.

This digital wall is being enforced alongside escalating physical repression. Iran’s national police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, has issued protesters a three-day ultimatum to surrender themselves or face prosecution. While offering nominal leniency to what he described as “misled youth,” Radan warned that organizers and leaders of the protests would be pursued “to the last one,” signaling that arrests and executions are far from over.

The regime has also moved aggressively to silence any internal dissent or sympathy for protesters. Iran’s second-largest mobile operator, Irancell, was thrown into turmoil after its chief executive, Alireza Rafiei, was fired for refusing to comply with government orders to cut internet access. Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency reported that Rafiei’s dismissal followed the company’s refusal to implement blackout instructions during what authorities labeled an “emergency,” and that legal action against him is expected.

Cultural and civil society figures have also been targeted. Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, reported that prosecutors have opened criminal cases against 15 athletes and actors, 10 cultural figures connected to Iran’s film industry, and 60 cafes accused of supporting protests or spreading calls to demonstrate. Some have already had assets seized, with courts weighing financial penalties for alleged “damages” caused by unrest.

Even limited reformist voices have been shut down. The newspaper Ham-Mihan was ordered closed by Iran’s Press Supervisory Board after publishing articles that compared the current unrest to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and examined the conduct of hospitals during the crackdown — topics the regime now treats as forbidden.

Behind the blackout, the human cost continues to rise. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reports it has verified the deaths of at least 4,029 people since protests erupted, while reviewing nearly 9,000 additional cases. More than 26,000 people have reportedly been detained, and at least 5,800 seriously injured. Iranian opposition outlet Iran International has placed the death toll much higher, at roughly 12,000. Even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has conceded that deaths are in the “thousands,” while blaming the United States and Israel rather than his own security forces.

The pattern is unmistakable: when authoritarian regimes fear exposure, they shut the lights off. Iran’s rulers are not acting from confidence, but from panic — racing to seal the country behind a digital wall before the truth can escape.

During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall stood as a global symbol of tyranny, erected not to keep enemies out, but to keep citizens in. Today, Iran’s digital Berlin Wall serves the same purpose. The cables may be invisible, but the captivity is real.

As Iran disappears behind its manufactured silence, the question facing the free world is whether it will once again accept walls built by dictators — or insist they come down.

Revival Behind the Wall: The Church in Iran and the Prophecy of Elam

Even as Iran’s regime erects a digital Berlin Wall to isolate its people, another reality persists beyond the reach of censors and security forces: the rapid growth of the underground church.

Despite arrests, surveillance, and the constant threat of imprisonment, Iran is now home to one of the fastest-growing Christian movements in the world. House churches continue to multiply quietly across the country, often meeting in secret, without buildings, clergy, or public platforms. Converts come largely from Muslim backgrounds, drawn by disillusionment with the regime and a hunger for truth that state ideology has failed to satisfy.

Ironically, the same repression meant to extinguish dissent has accelerated spiritual awakening. As state media collapses into propaganda and the internet goes dark, Iranians are turning inward — and upward. Former atheists and Muslims alike have testified that dreams, Scripture shared hand-to-hand, and whispered prayer gatherings are sustaining a movement no blackout can stop.

For many believers, these developments carry profound prophetic weight. The region historically known as Elam — located in what is now southwestern Iran — is explicitly addressed in Scripture. In Book of Jeremiah 49, the prophet records both judgment and restoration:

“But I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 49:39)

While the chapter speaks of divine judgment against Elam’s rulers and military power, it ends not in destruction, but redemption. To many watching events unfold inside Iran, the contrast is striking: as the regime tightens its grip through violence and isolation, faith is spreading quietly among the people.

Walls have never stopped truth — whether of freedom or faith. The Berlin Wall fell not because it was weakened from the outside, but because it collapsed from within. Iran’s digital wall may silence voices for a season, but history — and Scripture — suggest it will not have the final word.

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