"We have been cut off from our sources. After the authorities imposed a nationwide communications blackout, the already fragile infrastructure of reporting has all but collapsed. Even when we can make contact, we are careful; a phone search at a checkpoint could put them in danger. We cannot cross-check events through local coverage or rely on familiar verification channels. Instead, we wait for the rare, precious moments when a reliable contact inside Iran manages to get online, navigating VPNs or risking Starlink, which the authorities have criminalised."
"In those brief windows, what reaches us can open a narrow way to truth: a voice note from a journalist silenced by the regime; some sentences from another, still haunted by a recent release from prison; photographs smuggled out by a photojournalist whose newspaper has been shuttered. From hundreds of miles away, this is how we try to tell the story of war and repression."
"This is where independent journalism of the kind practised by the Guardian matters most: journalism that shows how people in Iran are trapped between the bombs of Israel and the US and the repression of their own government, caught in a war that has left them vulnerable both to foreign attack and to state violence at home."
"How do we, as journalists, report on war and state violence from a country where the authorities impose a near-total internet shutdown, cut international phone lines, restrict access to local news outlets, and make on-the-ground reporting almost impossible? This is not an abstract challenge. It has shaped every aspect of reporting on Iran, from the mass killing of protesters during the peaceful demonstrations that began in December 2025 to the war involving Iran, the US and Israel."
Iran’s press freedom environment is highly repressive, making truth-telling increasingly fragile, improvised, and dangerous. Nationwide communications blackouts have collapsed reporting infrastructure and cut off access to sources. Even when contact is possible, journalists must avoid verification methods that could endanger people at checkpoints. Cross-checking through local coverage and familiar verification channels is largely unavailable. Reporting depends on rare moments when reliable contacts inside Iran go online, often using VPNs or risking Starlink, which authorities have criminalized. Incoming material may include voice notes from silenced journalists, messages from people recently released from prison, and smuggled photographs after newspapers are shuttered. Independent journalism is framed as crucial for showing how people are trapped between foreign bombs and domestic repression amid war and state violence.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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