Heavily filtered — most foreign services blocked; domestic stack isolated
🇮🇷 Iran
Iran runs the most filtered internet in the world after North Korea. Tens of thousands of sites are blocked — Instagram, WhatsApp, X, YouTube, ChatGPT, Spotify, most major AI and SaaS — and the government has periodically shut down international connectivity entirely (notably during the 2019 protests and 2022 Mahsa Amini protests). Domestic services (Digikala, Snapp, Tap30, Aparat, Namava, Filimo) work normally and use Iranian payment rails. The reliable path is a foreign proxy + DoH; mobile traffic is often blocked harder than fixed-line. Starlink and similar satellite services are illegal in IR.
Service reach
Domestic: Digikala, Snapp, Tap30, Aparat, Namava, Filimo, Telegram (via MTProto proxy), Bale, Rubika, IranMall. Foreign via proxy: most AI (rare in IR — OpenAI/Anthropic block IR), streaming (Netflix, Spotify, YouTube), social (X, Instagram), banking. Crypto exchanges: no major exchange serves IR directly — peer-to-peer or no-KYC exchanges only. Foreign SaaS generally unreachable.
Best for
Limitations
- Most AI services (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) block IR-origin IPs at the ASN level
- Meta, X, YouTube, WhatsApp all blocked; period shutdowns occur during protests
- Starlink and consumer satellite internet are illegal
- Major crypto exchanges (Binance, OKX, Coinbase) refuse IR customers
Pricing context
Foreign services are practically inaccessible for IR users. Domestic pricing is in IRR (heavily inflated) or toman. Snapp and Digikala are subsidized. Crypto is via P2P (Tether, local exchanges like Nobitex). There is no working 'cheap Netflix' path — the only way to use Netflix from IR is via proxy + foreign payment card.
Proxy tip
Foreign exit + DoH is the bare minimum; pair with ECH (encrypted client hello) and a non-RU/IR DNS resolver. TR or NL exit minimizes latency (~80-120ms). IR mobile carriers (Hamrah-e Aval, Irancell, Rightel) throttle or block most proxy protocols during sensitive times — use protocols that look like normal HTTPS. Expect to lose access for hours at a time during state events; have a backup.