According to the global Internet watchdog NetBlocks, 90 hours after the Internet blackout started in Iran, only five percent of the people have access to the Internet.

NetBlocks had announced that the Internet blackout started on Saturday at 6:45 pm after the protests against the gasoline price-hike intensified.

Reporters without borders has described the Internet blackout in Iran as a violation of the fundamental right to access information.

The government officials have refused to specify a time for reconnecting the Internet.

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, says the Internet was shut down by the order supreme security council due to “misuse”. In an interview with the state-radio, Jahromi said: “They might undermine the national security, the concerns of the security institutions must be considered.”

Jahromi acknowledged the Internet blackout’s harm to private companies, taxi drivers, and all businesses and promised that “the International Internet will be reconnected soon.”

Previously, the spokesman for the government, Ali Rabiei, had announced: “If we are reassured that there will be no misuses, the Internet will be reconnected in all provinces gradually.”

President Rouhani’s chief of staff had also said that the Internet will be reconnected if the country remains calm.

Despite the Internet blackout, the government officials and reporters and media offices in Iran still have access to the Internet, and some videos of protests still manage to be uploaded.