Bita Ghaffari

Their only sources of information are two things, state media and overseas satellite channels based abroad.

The Islamic Republic is an institution.

Its survival doesn't depend on one leader, rather on a security apparatus that is still functioning.

The regime has spent decades building systems that don't depend on individuals, but on an infrastructure.

So the blackout is operating exactly as designed.

The same institutions that caught the internet in January during the protests before the supreme leader was killed are still in control now.