Iran’s streets have at this point been relatively calm for the last several days, after two weeks of large-scale protests rocked the country amid an ongoing economic crisis and Washington threatened to intervene by hitting government sites. When protests and unrest turned to riots and clashes with police, which in some locations resulted in deaths on both sides, Tehran authorities moved to impose a complete internet and messaging blackout – believing this would thwart or slow any foreign plotting seeking to exploit the protests. After eight days of no internet access, Iran has begun easing these restrictions Saturday, restoring short messaging service (SMS) nationwide. State media describes there will be a phased plan for bringing back internet and messaging services. Al Jazeera cites state authorities who say terror cells and a foreign conspiracy had been disrupted, but now the situation is stable: Quoting officials, the agency reported that the decision followed what it described as the stabilisation of the security situation and the detention of key figures linked to “terror organizations” behind the violence during protests over rising prices and economic hardship that erupted on December 28 in several Iranian cities. Authorities said the internet blackout had “significantly weakened the internal […]