Amid Iran's ongoing conflict with Israel, Iranians living abroad are encountering eerie disruptions while trying to call friends and family back home. Instead of hearing a ringtone or a familiar voice, many are met with strange, robotic voicemail messages. In some cases, the calls are intercepted by an automated voice saying, "Alo? Alo? Who is calling? I can't heard you... I think I don't know who are you."
In a telephone call recording, a person outside of Iran calling their friend in the country was met with a robotic voice, reported CNN. "Hello, and thank you for taking the time to listen," the voice said.
"Life is full of unexpected surprises and these surprises can sometimes bring joy while, at other times, they challenge us. The key is to discover the strength within us to overcome these challenges," it added.
Following a roughly 90-second eerie message, the listener is advised to close their eyes and see themselves in a setting that offers them "peace and happiness."
This version seems to have been the most widely heard by those outside of Iran who made calls to Iranian mobile phones on Wednesday and Thursday, while other variants have also been recorded. People calling landlines did not get any similar messages.
The message began surfacing widely after Iran imposed a nationwide internet restriction on Wednesday, citing security concerns. With apps like WhatsApp rendered inaccessible, many people abroad resorted to direct phone calls to reach friends and family inside Iran, only to be met with strange, automated voice messages. These messages are reportedly not heard when calls are made through internet-based apps.
While some initially suspected an Israeli cyberattack, others pointed to Iran's own government as the likely source. Theories range from a technical fallback system triggered by network outages to a deliberate diversion tactic amid the near-total internet and telecom blackout enforced since June 17. Some observers also believe it could be a form of psychological warfare playing out alongside the Israel-Iran conflict.
Alp Toker, the founder and director of NetBlocks, a non-governmental group that keeps an eye on internet governance, thinks the messages are an effort by the Iranian government to restrict telecommunications.
"The point is, when the internet is cut, the phones need to go somewhere, and that will go to the fallback message on the device," he told CNN.
On the 10th day of the Israel-Iran conflict, the United States formally entered the fray, conducting airstrikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities - Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
