Which VPNs work in 
Iran?
As of Jul 25, 2026, none of the 10 VPNs we track is cleanly working in Iran. 3 are partially working with the right settings; the table below shows what each one needs.
Working alternatives in Iran
No VPN is currently verified as working in Iran. We would rather say that than guess. Check back after the next weekly verification pass.
The situation in Iran
Iran runs the most aggressive DNS blocking we track: OONI confirms vendor domains blocked across six to seven networks including TCI and Irancell for nearly every VPN in the column, with PIA logging 101 confirmed blocks in 30 days. Our two highest-confidence verdicts anywhere are here, and both are blocked (PIA and Surfshark). Community history says standard WireGuard and OpenVPN are dead, and only heavy obfuscation (Proton's Stealth, self-hosted V2Ray-class tools) ever connects, inconsistently. Site blocks also stop signup and downloads, so nothing here is usable without setup before entry.
Full status table for Iran
| VPN | Status | Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | blocked | medium | nordvpn.com DNS-blocked on most Iranian ISPs; Iranian protocol filtering means obfuscation (NordWhisper or obfuscated OpenVPN) would be mandatory at minimum, and no recent report confirms the tunnel connects even then |
| Surfshark | blocked | high | surfshark.com DNS-blocked across Iranian ISPs; historically connects only with heavy obfuscation (Camouflage, manual OpenVPN, or V2Ray proxying) and even that is inconsistent; standard WireGuard and OpenVPN reported dead |
| ExpressVPN | degraded | low | expressvpn.com confirmed DNS/HTTP-blocked on seven-plus Iranian ASNs; historically usable only with obfuscation and reported patchy; no in-country report inside 30 days confirms the tunnel connects |
| Proton VPN | degraded | low | Works only via Stealth protocol plus Alternative Routing per Proton track record during Iranian censorship spikes; protonvpn.com is DNS-blocked in-country; no fresh in-country confirmation the tunnel connects |
| Private Internet Access | blocked | high | privateinternetaccess.com confirmed DNS-blocked (101 confirmed blocks in 30 days of OONI data); no obfuscation mode; Iran interrupts TLS handshakes to kill OpenVPN and WireGuard per community reports |
| CyberGhost | blocked | medium | cyberghostvpn.com DNS-blocked in-country; CyberGhost ships no obfuscation or stealth mode, so its OpenVPN and WireGuard tunnels are fully exposed to Iranian DPI and TLS-SNI filtering |
| Windscribe | degraded | low | Likely works only via Stealth, WStunnel, or Amnezia-WireGuard obfuscation; carrier- and region-dependent; plain WireGuard/UDP frequently blocked by Iranian filtering; no evidence inside 30 days either way |
| PureVPN | blocked | medium | purevpn.com predominantly DNS-blocked in-country (ISP- and resolver-dependent, not 100 percent uniform); no recent report that the obfuscated tunnel connects |
| Mullvad | blocked | medium | mullvad.net DNS-blocked in-country; bridges/Shadowsocks and QUIC obfuscation may still tunnel but no recent in-country confirmation; the site block also impedes signup and app download |
| Astrill | unverified | low | Vendor ToS (section 5.5, updated January 2026) bars access and use from any country under US/EU/UK sanctions, which covers Iran, so official signup and payment are effectively impossible even if the tunnel worked. No dated in-country test of StealthVPN from Iran exists. Iran ran a near-total internet blackout Jan 8 to May 26, 2026; only V2Ray/Shadowsocks-class tools plus Psiphon/Tor Snowflake have any community track record there. |
Legal status: Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace prohibited the use of unlicensed VPNs in February 2024, after criminalizing their sale and distribution in 2023, leaving only government-licensed VPNs formally permitted. (source)