Iran targets Starlink as ‘tool of war’ with hints of more internet curbs

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities have pledged to continue a crackdown against satellite internet service Starlink, along with further restrictions on the global internet as the US-Israel war on Iran continues.

Elon Musk’s Starlink, which is free of the heavy filtering and restrictions imposed by Tehran, is outlawed in Iran on national security grounds. The use of satellite-based internet services and the distribution of Starlink terminals are subject to fines and imprisonment.

It is one of the many measures imposed by Iranian authorities since the United States and Israel launched strikes on the country on February 28, leading to a prolonged and economically punishing war between the countries.

Iran’s 90 million people have undergone two lengthy state-imposed global internet shutdowns in 2026 – for three weeks during nationwide protests in January and for 88 days at the start of the ongoing war.

Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, secretary of the Supreme National Cyberspace Council, described Starlink as a “tool of war” for enemies.

“It is a tool used for command and control by the enemy, for espionage and information gathering,” he said. “We have several systems for cutting off Starlink satellite terminals.”

He did not elaborate on what measures or devices were being used to block Starlink, but one was deployed during the January protests and authorities were prepared to share the technology with aligned countries.

Iran is among several countries that have banned or restricted Starlink due to national security concerns.

It has set baseline sentences of between six months and two years for using or possessing Starlink. Importing and distributing the devices carry jail terms of up to five years. If paired with national security or espionage charges, individuals can even face the death penalty.

Aghamiri has called on Iranians to use domestic platforms, supported by what the authorities call the National Information Network. He also backed a tiered-access model, which envisages protected international access for selected groups – such as traders, researchers and journalists – during periods of internet restrictions.

A Tehran-based internet and telecommunications expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that Iranian authorities use a combination of measures to block Starlink connections.

This includes the use of multiple jammers with different configurations to disrupt services, along with spoofed GPS locations to slow new devices being set up. They can also identify Starlink-associated internet protocols if they connect to local applications and services.

Authorities also try to physically intercept terminals using patrols and drone searches, or raid locations selling the terminals.

In June, Israeli politician Naftali Bennett claimed that Israel had smuggled tens of thousands of Starlink devices into Iran when he was prime minister, between 2021 and 2022, to aid antigovernment protesters.

Since 2023, Iran has also pursued the matter at the International Telecommunication Union’s Radio Regulations Board, trying to pressure the US and Norway, which plays a role in the satellite network’s regulatory filings, to halt transmissions.

On October 4, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Norwegian ambassador in Tehran to protest against what it described as a failure to act over unauthorised Starlink operations.

During a governance meeting at the end of September, Deputy Technology Minister Mohammad Hafez Hakami had warned authorities that Starlink could signify “the last nail in the coffin of the [cyberspace] governance” of Iran if it becomes prevalent, due to the unfettered internet access it provides.

He pointed out that the government blocked the messaging app Telegram after the cost-of-living protests in 2017-18, but had to resort to a weeklong internet shutdown for the first time during the nationwide protests in 2019. WhatsApp and Instagram were blocked after the 2022-23 protests, which preceded the near-total shutdown during the January 2026 protests.

“If this trend continues, in the next crisis we will have to cut electricity, because Starlink, as a new tool of evading state governance, is fundamentally not even dependent on our network,” Hakami said.

Starlink has allowed Iranians to send out videos of the protests abroad since 2022 despite state restrictions. Tens of thousands of terminals are believed to have been smuggled into the country since, but exact figures are unknown.

Due to the risk of a state crackdown, limited availability and financial costs, most people still have no access to Starlink and must rely on Iran’s domestic internet, which blocks most international services and thousands of websites. US sanctions and banking restrictions further impede Iranians’ access to global services.

To circumvent the many roadblocks, most Iranians use virtual private networks (VPNs) and other methods that grant access to the free internet. But those tools can reduce connection speeds, prove costly or provide unsafe connections that jeopardise user data, and become harder to come by during periods of state-imposed internet blackout.

According to the authorities, more restrictions were possible in the future if the war intensifies, after a relative decrease in violence since the June memorandum of understanding, which eventually lapsed without a permanent ceasefire, between the US and Iran.

Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told a news conference on Tuesday that state bodies were deliberately disrupting the internet ostensibly to protect people and national assets from cyberattacks.

“It is obvious that due to the importance of our databases and internet-based services, decision-making bodies are sometimes forced to bring down internet speeds,” she said. “We don’t deny this issue.”

The authorities claim that they have considered removing restrictions on some platforms, although no action has been taken yet.

State-linked media late on Tuesday released a policy and governance framework document that the cyberspace council’s Aghamiri said has been under consideration for nearly two years but remained confidential due to security concerns.

The document offered no timeline for reopening any platform, and media reports said implementation had been halted by wars and protests.

The document says Google Play and WhatsApp could potentially be unblocked, while YouTube and Telegram would have to negotiate with Iran and accept certain conditions determined by the authorities to be unblocked. Such steps by the social media giants are considered extremely unlikely.