Iran is experiencing a nationwide internet blackout amid escalating anti-regime protests, severely limiting communications as the demonstrations enter a second week with a reported death toll of 44.

According to live data from NetBlocks, internet traffic in the country collapsed on Thursday evening, soon after calls for mass protests at 8 p.m. local time circulated.

Prior to reports of the most recent killings, President , in a Thursday interview with Hugh Hewitt, reiterated his warning to the regime that if it begins killing people, “they will be hit very hard.”

When Hewitt asked if he had a message for the Iranian people, Trump replied, “You should feel strongly about freedom. There’s nothing like freedom. You’re brave people.”

The State Department’s Persian-language feed on X also repeated Trump’s warning from the Hugh Hewitt interview about the regime in Farsi.

Ali Safavi, a member of the (NCRI), informed Digital that the internet shutdown started earlier in the day.

“Around 1 p.m. local time, the internet traffic dropped,” he stated, adding that there were widespread reports “that the regime had cut off the internet.”

NetBlocks indicated the outage came after “a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country,” while The reported that telephone lines were also severed in parts of Iran.

Safavi noted the blackout occurred at the same time as violent clashes in several areas.

“The internet was cut off in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces as battles erupted,” he said.

He also highlighted unrest in Isfahan, Iran’s third-largest city with approximately 2.3 million residents, saying, “State radio and the TV station were set on fire by rebellious youth.”

As the communications blackout worsened, the confirmed number of deaths from the unrest increased significantly.

The NCRI reported on Thursday that had been killed by Iranian security forces since the uprising started.

The organization announced the names of 13 more victims that day, referring to them as “martyrs” of the nationwide uprising.

Seven of the newly identified victims were from Lordegan, including a woman and two teenagers.

The NCRI stated that the victims were killed by the Revolutionary Guard and other security forces using live ammunition.

Initially sparked in December by the and soaring inflation, the protests have since transformed into a wider movement calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

The unrest reached its 12th day as general strikes expanded across major commercial centers and street fighting intensified, especially in western Iran.

Safavi characterized the scale of the demonstrations as unprecedented.

“Millions of Iranians from north to south and east to west have been out in the streets until nighttime,” he said.

“Over the past 12 days, more young people have laid down their lives to free Iran.”

In a statement posted on X, Reza Pahlavi wrote, “Millions of Iranians demanded their freedom tonight. In response, the regime in Iran has cut all lines of communication. It has shut down the Internet. It has cut landlines. It may even attempt to jam satellite signals.”

In Lordegan, security forces were reported to have killed eight protesters in one day, while clashes also resulted in the deaths of a regime colonel and two Basij members.

In other areas, protesters set fire to government buildings in cities including Lumar in Ilam province. Safavi said symbols of the state have been targeted across the country.

“Statues have been destroyed and set on fire,” Safavi stated, also noting that “the day before, buses were set alight in Mashhad and another torched.”

Footage shared online and cited by Reuters showed protesters in Mashhad tearing an Iranian flag in half while chanting against the leadership.

In Tehran, Safavi said, demonstrators overturned a police car in Kaj Square, an affluent neighborhood near the Alborz Mountains, as crowds yelled, “Death to the oppressor!”