Updated February 19, 2026 — Added new section with post-Feb 13 developments on Conduit usage and events.
Iranian connections to @PsiphonConduit have dropped by over 72% since their February 8th peak of 29,170,708, in spite of stability of average active stations.
While this could imply less people in Iran are trying to use Conduit or bypass the Islamic Republic’s #IranBlackout, this much more likely implies the Islamic Republic is taking further steps to clamp down on Iranians’ Internet traffic.
Iranians have been using the Conduit app to help bypass Islamic Republic repression and censorship, which the regime has used to cover its mass slaughter of Iranian citizens. In spite of this, Iranians have been persistent in documenting and transmitting evidence of the atrocities.
The Islamic Republic’s control of the physical Iranian Internet infrastructure allows them to intervene at any level.
Conduit works by making every device that uses it an encrypted relay, where traffic is optimized through the best set of relays to reach the distributed Psiphon Network, then on to the destination site. In this way, Iranians have been able to receive information from the outside, and send messages, images, and video of both their victories and horrific Regime atrocities.
Recently, the regime has rapidly increased its efforts to clamp down on Iranian’s information in or out of the country. While connectivity has come back to some degree, it is heavily filtered via both hardware and software.
This behavior is common with authoritarian regimes, whose main purposes are to secure their power and extract the wealth of the nation by using the people as indentured servants or slaves. With this motivation, any means of repression are on the table, including censorship, wrongful imprisonment, heinous treatment of the people to induce fear, secret police, and mass murder.
While the murder count of the Islamic Republic is unclear as the Iranian Revolution enters its 48th day, minimum estimates are in the mid-10s of thousands, while some estimates reach over 100,000 people, akin to somewhere between fifteen to forty+ 9/11 attacks.
Videos have surfaced of soldiers opening fire on individuals, groups, and crowds with small arms and .50 caliber machine guns from technicals. Iranians have posted videos showing the casings from spent munitions: 7.62x39mm, 7.62x54mmR, and 5.45x39mm casings from automatic rifles, 30mm automatic grenade launcher grenades, and even ( likely Soviet ) 37mm anti-aircraft kinetic tracer rounds.
There is also video of IRGC and Basiji celebrating their “work.” Some of the most gruesome videos document dead Iranian citizens littering the streets and literal flowing streams of blood in a gutter.
@elonmusk‘s #Starlink and Psiphon’s Conduit have both been great tools to help in the information war of Iran’s Revolution, but GPS spoofing of the former and further Internet filtering against the latter are putting pressure on Iranians’ communications capabilities.
Despite this, there is no doubt that Iranian bravery and ingenuity will continue against the Islamic Republic, whom today are considered a modern analog of Hitler’s Nazi regime. Iranians continue to send messages through the blockade to provide evidence of atrocities, ongoing actions in Iran, provide updates to the outside, counter regime narratives, and mourn the fallen.
Iranians also receive news from around the world about possible interventions by the US and Israel that could help the Iranian’s on the ground finish the job of toppling the regime, gathering support from the Iranian diaspora in global rallies and protests, and hearing from their revolutionary leader Prince Reza Pahlavi ( @PahlaviReza ).
For the most up-to-date information about the ongoing Iranian Revolution, check out some of these sources:
- Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi ( @PahlaviReza ) and his Press Office ( @PahlaviComms ).
- Tousi TV live news shows with Mayhar Tousi ( @MayharTousi and @TousiTVOfficial ): https://www.youtube.com/@TousiTV and https://tousitvplus.tv
- Goldie Ghamari’s ( @gghamari ) and Armin Navabi’s ( @ArminNavabi ) Daily Iranian Revolution Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/@gghamarimpp/streams.
Developments Since February 13, 2026 (Updated: February 19, 2026)
Since the original publication on February 13, Psiphon Conduit connections greatly improve after four days, but remain lower and more volatile. Key updates include:
- Conduit Connections Continued to Decrease: Iranians Conduit connections declined over 90% in four days from February 8th highs.
- Conduit Connections Sharply Rebound: Although they did not reach all-time highs, Iranians made over 17 million connections to Conduit, coinciding with the 40th day of Mourning for Iranian Revolution murders on February 17th.
- Connections Remain Volatile: As of February 18th, connections dropped by a few million ( over 17% ), amid video and reports of further regime Internet blackouts, crackdowns, and shootings of 40th day Mourners in the prior day.
The exact nature of the extreme drop in Conduit connections remains unclear, but is presumed to involve repressive Islamic Republic intervention in some capacity.
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