Iranian-Canadians address challenges reaching loved ones amidst Iran’s internet blackout

Alex Karpa reports on Iranian-Canadians' struggles when trying to contact family members back home as the internet remains shut down during the war.

WINNIPEG — Zhaleh Parsaei tries to get in contact with her family in Iran every single day.

She tries calling, but there’s no answer. She tries video calling them on WhatsApp, but she cannot reach them.

It’s a reality many Iranian-Canadians like Parsaei are facing as they struggle to connect with loved ones back home.

“It’s a very difficult time for all Iranians abroad,” she told CTV News.

Inside the country, Iranians have been blocked by the Iranian regime from accessing the global internet. It’s now been nearly a month since the internet blackout began.

Internet access in the country remains shut down since the United States and Israel launched attacks on the country.

Parsaei’s parents, two brothers and countless cousins are currently living in Iran.

“It impacts our families a lot,” she said. “I found that myself, I am just overwhelmed, but I try to be strong to fight for our people.”

Parsaei spoke with her brother last week for the Persian New Year, but it was only for a couple of minutes.

She doesn’t know when she’ll be able to talk with her family next.

‘Haven’t been able to get in touch’

Nafiseh Rezaii has the same worries as Parsaei.

Some of her relatives, including her mother and sisters, made it to Dubai before the war started, but many family members and friends, including her brother, remain in Iran.

Rezaii is worried and says it’s stressful not knowing if her family is safe.

“I was talking to my best friend on WhatsApp the other day, like we were chatting, and I was asking about my husband’s cousin, which is weird. I was asking if she could call them,” she said. “We basically can’t get in touch with them.”

“You hear this location is being bombed and it’s the same location your family and friends are living in. It takes so long to get news of your loved ones,” she added. “This is a very stressful moment for everyone in Iran.”

Iranian Regime clamps down: tech analyst

Earlier this year, Iran’s government restricted internet access during widespread protests.

Tech analyst Carmi Levy says there are creative ways folks inside Iran have been communicating with people outside of the country.

“For example, there have been an estimated 50,000 Starlink terminals that have been smuggled into the country and those are being used for intermittent connectivity,” he said.

“There are what we call Bluetooth mesh networks, so apps like Bitchat that allow connectivity without using the internet and the more people who use them, the greater the range and that allows messages to get in and out under the radar of the regime.”

Levy says virtual private networks (VPN) are also often a go-to for communicating when you don’t want the government to be able to see what you’re talking about.

He said although there are ways to communicate with the outside world, it does come at a risk.

“The government is looking for this activity and is punishing this activity,” he said. “When you are trying to communicate with someone back home, recognize it’s not going to be an hour-long FaceTime or video conference call, it’s going to be short text messages simply to confirm that everything is okay.”

‘We are worried about them’

As for Parsaei, she says she will do everything she can to get in touch with her family more often, but notes it’s virtually impossible.

She said she’s taking things day by day.

“It seems that we are having two lives now,” she said. “We have here our children, our work, our family, everything that we need to take care of ourselves here. At the same time, we are worried about back home, our family there.”

“Iranian people don’t have any voice. We are trying to be their voice here. We are fighting.”