Two weeks into Iran’s latest nationwide protests, the Islamic Republic has returned to a grimly familiar strategy: total silence, followed by overwhelming force. As of Sunday, Iran has been plunged into near-total isolation for five consecutive days. Internet access has been almost entirely shut down. Ordinary means of communication — mobile phone calls, landlines and even institutional lines — have been severed. Iranians inside the country cannot reach the outside world, and those abroad cannot reach their families. Even embassies in Tehran have reportedly been unable to establish regular communication. Only a handful of people with access to Starlink internet have managed to send fragments of images and videos to the outside world. What has emerged through these digital cracks has struck Iranians everywhere like a knife to the heart. One video shows rows of bodies lying on the ground outside a medical facility — too many to count. The sound is unbearable: mothers screaming, crying, calling the names of children who will never answer. Other footage shows families searching desp