In Iran, mobile phone numbers are a key means of verifying digital identity and accessing banking, judicial, administrative and insurance services. Therefore, deactivating SIM cards can not only block phone calls and text messages, but also stop access to a wide range of digital services. It is precisely such repression that many Iranians have fallen victim to recently.
Some of them say that the restrictions on their mobile phones have been accompanied by the blocking of user accounts and corresponding access to banking and other services. They say their access was restored only after they deleted critical content or pledged to stop participating in activities related to protests or any dissatisfaction with the authorities.
DW spoke to victims of the restrictions in Iran. They use pseudonyms for their safety.
"Loyal to the system"
Sina told DW that he realized that his SIM card had been deactivated while he was returning from university and trying to order a taxi on his phone. The 25-year-old said he received a call from a person who claimed to be a representative of the Revolutionary Guard and ordered him to go to a location they had specified to have his SIM card reactivated.
Sina says he was questioned for 6 hours and his smartphone was taken away. The condition for getting his SIM card and phone back was that he express remorse for his activities as an activist and stop “online propaganda against the system.” He also says he was forced to post materials in support of the Islamic Republic to prove he was “loyal to the system.”
Hours later, his family discovered that his Instagram posts had been deleted. A note remained saying that “the posts are in accordance with the laws of the Islamic Republic.” Sina claims that a month later, he still hasn’t received his phone and SIM card back, which means he can’t access his social media accounts.
Sorour, a 41-year-old translator from Tehran, says that after her SIM card was deactivated, she was interrogated for hours about her Instagram and Facebook activity.
Sorour explained that she was told to refrain from criticizing the government, including advocating for political prisoners, expressing protests against executions, and supporting demonstrators during the nationwide anti-government protests that began in late December 2025.
A tool to silence critics
A number of other Iranians have also complained on social media about similar actions. Former political prisoner Zia Nabavi wrote on Instagram that his SIM card had suddenly been deactivated, which he noticed at a doctor's office where he needed access to his bank details. "The government is putting pressure on its critics to force them to obey and abandon political activity," Nabavi wrote.
Reyhaneh Zaedi, a doctor and activist, also shared on Instagram that her SIM card had been blocked for months, and that this was the second time she had faced such a restriction. She says the measure has prevented her from working as a doctor, issuing prescriptions, and renewing her medical license.
As early as 2025, the organization "Defending the Free Flow of Information" (DeFFI) reported that the SIM cards of journalists and activists had been blocked without court orders. SIM card deactivation and other digital restrictions have become part of a broader set of tools that the Islamic Republic has used over the past four decades to pressure opponents, critics, journalists, and activists.
Source: www.dw.com