Supreme Council of Cyberspace

The Supreme Council of Cyberspace is Iran's apex body for internet governance, established under a Supreme Leader mandate to coordinate filtering policy, platform regulation, and network architecture across all state agencies. It sits above the elected government in the hierarchy: the President chairs sessions, but the Council's decisions ultimately reflect the Supreme Leader's authority. In May 2026 the Council oversaw the procurement of Chinese Deep Packet Inspection hardware, a step that member Mohammad Sarafraz publicly confirmed, describing an ambition to build a tiered, switchable internet system modelled on China's 2009 Xinjiang isolation.

The Council's wartime role became highly visible from March 2026 Onward. It sanctioned the Supreme National Security Council's decision to impose an internet blackout that exceeded 1,700 cumulative hours by mid-May, the longest national internet restriction NetBlocks has ever logged. When the economic damage grew severe, the Council approved a tiered restoration scheme: a 'white internet' for loyalists and senior officials, a paid 'Internet Pro' tier for select professionals, and continued blackout for roughly 99% of the population.

The Council exemplifies Iran's dual-state model: a technocratic body with regulatory language and formal procedures, but one whose jurisdiction ultimately serves the Supreme Leader's political priorities. Its DPI procurement marks a structural shift: from reactive shutdown as a crisis measure toward a permanent, graduated censorship infrastructure capable of discriminating by user class without visible switches going dark.