Normality elusive for Iranians mostly cut off from world

Iranians have found themselves without email, texts and foreign apps for days, with even landline phone calls unreliable under a digital blackout imposed by authorities in the face of widespread protests.

Iran cut off the internet on January 8, making it difficult for its nearly 86 million residents to share information with the outside world about the anti-government demonstrations taking place across the country.

"We come into the office, but without the internet, I can't even contact my clients," said one employee of a private firm in Tehran who, like others interviewed by AFP, spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

While popular platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Telegram remain inaccessible, Iranians are still able to use the country's domestic internet, where content is filtered.

Certain apps for taxis, deliveries, and online banking still work as usual.

International phone links were restored on Tuesday, but only for outgoing calls, according to an AFP journalist, and the quality remains spotty, with frequent interruptions.

On Tuesday, local newspapers led with major pro-government rallies called by authorities the day before, with the ultraconservative Kayhan calling them a "historic humiliation" of the United States and Israel.

Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused the two countries of fomenting the protests.

In Tehran, cafe terraces have been full during the day, with shops open and avenues jammed with traffic, giving an impression of normality.

But at night, business all but stops as restaurants and shopping centers close, despite no curfew having been officially decreed.

There are a lot of customers "when people are coming out to meet up, but around 6:00 pm we have to start closing", one waiter told AFP in between orders.

On Tuesday morning, security forces were less visible on the main roads than at the end of last week, when protests were at their height.

At the entrance to the University of Tehran, a burned-out ambulance and a fire engine.

A nearby banner echoed the government's line about the protests: "This ambulance was targeted by the impostors from the Zionist regime," it said, referring to Israel.

Other banners around town showed images of vandalized vehicles with the caption "These are not demonstrations".

On Monday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a group of ambassadors to Iran that 200 shops, 180 ambulances, 53 mosques and multiple buses had been set on fire.

State media have shown on a loop images of the damage while paying tribute to police victims of "terrorism" stoked by Israel and the U.S.