US asked SpaceX to activate Starlink in Iran after the strikes

After the US and Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic, the US government asked SpaceX to activate its Starlink satellite internet service in Iran. A former senior official in Donald Trump's administration and a person familiar with the matter say Washington's goal was to strengthen protesters' access to the internet and their ability to communicate with one another in the face of internet shutdowns and restrictions imposed by the Islamic Republic.

According to six former senior US officials who asked not to be named, discussions about delivering and activating Starlink terminals in Iran took place once after the 2025 strikes and again after the start of the current war. Neither the Trump administration nor SpaceX has so far publicly confirmed that the terminals have been switched on. The Islamic Republic's mission to the United Nations also did not respond to a request for comment.

Thousands of Starlink terminals in Iran

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that, after the bloody crackdown on the January (Dey) uprising, the US government secretly delivered about 6,000 Starlink devices to Iran, and that thousands more terminals were sent to Iran in the first months of the war; no official figure has been announced. Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, wrote on social media this week that Starshield systems, the military version of Starlink, are owned and controlled by the US government, and that any limits on their speed or use are set by the US military and ultimately by the president.

These efforts date back to the 2022 protests; at that time, Joe Biden's administration also asked SpaceX to activate Starlink in Iran, and a former official says terminals entered Iran with the help of the US government.

The internet: another battlefield against the Islamic Republic

In recent months, the Islamic Republic has repeatedly shut down or severely throttled the internet and has pursued Starlink owners. Just this week, citizens reported severe internet slowdowns and checkpoints in 14 Iranian cities ahead of the anniversary of the November 2019 protests. For millions of Iranians, free access to the internet is the only way to make their voices heard by the world and to document the crackdown.

Washington is seeking to use Starlink to break through the Islamic Republic's wall of internet censorship for protesters.