Protests in Iran: US likely smuggled 6000 Starlink antennas into the country
In January, the Islamic Republic shut down the internet and brutally suppressed protests. Then the US smuggled Starlink antennas into the country.
(Image: Masmikha/Shutterstock.com)
After the Iranian regime brutally suppressed the largest protests in decades, the US government secretly smuggled around 6,000 Starlink antennas into the country. The Wall Street Journal reports this, citing anonymous sources, and adds that regime critics were supposed to go online with them. To finance the measure, funds were cut, among other things, that supported VPN providers. This is the first time the US has sent Starlink terminals directly to Iran; until now, they were only smuggled privately. The US newspaper does not write what happened to them. The Islamic Republic has imposed severe penalties for the use of the technology.
The protests in Iran began before the end of the year, and on January 8, the regime blocked all access to the internet. On that day, millions of people across the country had taken to the streets against the regime. In the two days following the internet shutdown, more than 30,000 people may have been killed. While the internet was blocked, information trickled out of the country, and it was repeatedly pointed out that this was mainly possible thanks to Starlink. The mobile antennas can establish connections to satellites, and state authorities can only prevent this to a limited extent. This is likely also why Iran is now trying to take action against it at the United Nations.
Trump: “Help is on the way.”
The Wall Street Journal now points out that the regime in Tehran has repeatedly accused the US of playing a role in the protests. The demonstrations had ignited after the recent depreciation of the country's currency. While the US government has always rejected these accusations, the revelation now makes it clear that it has done more to support the people than was previously known. The White House has not commented on the report. During the protests, US President Donald Trump had urged the people in Iran to continue demonstrating and promised, “Help is on the way.”
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SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet has been available since 2019, with over 9600 active satellites providing fast internet connections on all continents. The necessary antennas have been smuggled into the country for years, and most recently it was said that 50,000 were already in use there. It is unclear whether the 6,000 new ones from the US were included. Starlink is now also old, and the waves of protests in Iran are so frequent that the current one is not even the first in which Starlink has helped with communication with the world. In the fall of 2022, Elon Musk switched on the service for the Islamic Republic for the first time. At that time, however, the necessary ground infrastructure was not yet sufficiently developed. This has since changed.
(mho)
