Iran's Stealth Internet Blackout: A New Model of Censorship

In mid-2025, Iran experienced a novel, stealthy Internet shutdown that preserved global routing presence while isolating domestic users through deep packet inspection, aggressive throttling, and selective protocol blocking. This paper analyzes active network measurements such as DNS poisoning, HTTP injection, TLS interception, and protocol whitelisting, traced to a centralized border gateway. We quantify an approximate 707 percent rise in VPN demand and describe the multi-layered censorship infrastructure, highlighting implications for circumvention and digital rights monitoring.