Highlights:
- The Biden and Trump administrations previously asked SpaceX to switch Starlink on or off, six former officials say
- Biden officials asked SpaceX to cut service linked to the Houthis and Hezbollah, former officials say
- Trump officials discussed activating Starlink in Iran after 2025 and 2026 strikes, sources say
- US reliance on SpaceX raises questions over Elon Musk's influence on policy decisions
Well before the throttling this month of Ukraine's military access to Elon Musk's satellite communications system, the Biden and Trump administrations had several times asked SpaceX to turn its Starlink service on or off in various countries, according to six former senior US officials familiar with the matter.
During Joe Biden's presidency, the requests included switching off the service to prevent Iranian proxy militias in Yemen and Lebanon from using Starlink to communicate, and activating the service to provide internet access inside Iran and Ukraine to support its military, said four of the former officials.
Similarly, President Donald Trump's administration asked Musk, SpaceX's chief executive, to make the service available in Iran following US-Israeli strikes in 2025 and 2026, in the hope that it would bolster internet access and communications for anti-government protesters, a former senior Trump official and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
All of the people spoke on condition of anonymity. The previous US requests concerning Starlink access are being reported here for the first time.
The recent dispute over restrictions on Ukraine's use of SpaceX satellite services has raised questions about the ties between the US government and Musk, whose company owns systems vital to the US military and its allies.
The requests made by the Biden and Trump administrations show a close relationship in which US administrations rely to an unprecedented degree on a private-sector company to help implement foreign policy.
The recent limits on Ukraine's access, despite the country being a US ally, have also alarmed officials in Europe. Some argue that Europe must develop its own military satellite communications capabilities because no viable short-term alternative currently exists.
Starshield restrictions hobble Ukraine's military
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that his country's access to Starshield, the military version of the Starlink system, had been intentionally limited, interfering with the performance of the country's military drones. He also said speeds had been reduced for Starlink, which Ukraine uses for some military activities, including defence against Russian missile attacks.
Reuters has reported that the order to throttle Starshield came from inside the White House. The Trump administration has acknowledged the slowdown but has not said whether it issued the order.
The White House, contacted for comment, referred Reuters to Trump's remarks on Friday, when he said he had not spoken with Musk about Starlink access issues in Ukraine and that "if there is a problem, I'll get it straightened out".
Halyna Yusypiuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, said Ukraine's priority was "to have the service restored to normal speed as soon as possible, as the lives of our people depend on it".
SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, although Musk said in a social media post earlier this week: "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately (by the president of the United States)."
Democratic US Representative Jason Crow called on Friday for clarity about the recent changes to Ukraine's satellite service, saying there were risks associated with US dependence on SpaceX.
"Unelected billionaires and private corporations should not decide what is in the best interest of America's national security," Crow said.
For Ukraine, the Starlink internet service has become the lifeblood of frontline communications between military units, which say there is currently no rival to SpaceX's capabilities.
Starshield receivers, which are largely impervious to radio jamming, are used as onboard guidance systems and to provide links to remote pilots operating Ukrainian drones, including those deployed deep behind Russian lines inside Ukraine.
Musk's influence raises uncertainty
Musk's role as the strong-willed chief executive of a company with outsized influence over US national security has at times raised questions about who makes decisions concerning SpaceX's satellite services.
The SpaceX chief executive is "supposed to be a business executive, with government contracts, and he's essentially making huge foreign policy decisions", said Armand Musey, president of Summit Ridge Group, a satellite industry consultancy.
"He's sufficiently ambiguous of a person that you don't know if his decisions are sort of his personal quirks, or it's because there's an influence elsewhere that's impacting him", Musey said.
In previous years, Musk has moved to limit Ukraine's access to Starlink. In 2022, according to Reuters reporting, Musk ordered SpaceX personnel to cut Starlink coverage in areas Ukraine was trying to retake, a move that surprised White House officials.
Musk has said publicly that he refused a Ukrainian request in 2022 to activate his satellite network in Crimea's port city of Sevastopol to aid an attack on Russia's fleet there, saying he feared complicity in a major act of war.
The Biden administration at times relied on Musk to help implement policy, five of the former officials said.
Biden officials coordinated with SpaceX to thwart US adversaries by cutting the service and to help allies by expanding Starlink's availability, they said.
They added that discussions between the government and SpaceX, which usually included Pentagon and White House officials, often focused on preventing groups such as the Iranian-linked Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon from using Starlink terminals.
Biden officials several times shared intelligence with SpaceX indicating that the Houthis and Hezbollah were using diverted Starlink terminals — hardware that had reached the militants through intermediaries.
In October 2023, during fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, intelligence officials told the White House that individuals linked to Hezbollah might have gained access to Starlink terminals. Officials had similar concerns about the Houthis in Yemen in 2024 during a US air campaign against the Iran-linked group, five of the officials said.
In both cases, the administration contacted SpaceX and asked it to identify the terminals and shut them off. At least some of the terminals were deactivated, said two of the officials.
In a 2024 submission to the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, SpaceX said it worked closely with US government agencies to secure export authorisations where required and safeguard technology in support of US national security objectives and foreign policy goals.
Soon after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Biden officials pushed SpaceX to expand Starlink use for the Ukrainian military, said two of the former officials.
In a separate instance, the Biden administration asked SpaceX to activate Starlink in Iran during a protest movement launched in September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman arrested for not wearing her hijab properly, according to one of the former officials.
Starlink terminals were moved into the country with the administration's help, said the official, who declined to say how many were transferred.
The Trump administration took a similar step earlier this year and discussed with Musk and SpaceX getting Starlink terminals into Iran and activating them following US-Israeli strikes in the country in June 2025 and again in February 2026, a former senior Trump official and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Neither the Trump administration nor SpaceX has publicly confirmed that those terminals were activated. The Wall Street Journal reported in February that the US government had sent thousands of Starlink terminals into Iran.
Iran's delegation to the UN did not respond to a request for comment.