Iran says it disabled Starlink terminals during protests

Iran managed to disable terminals used for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service during anti-government protests in January, a senior Iranian official says.

The comments represent the first time an Iranian official has spoken about the alleged capabilities to counter the technology in Iran, where internet access is subject to draconian restrictions.

During the wave of protests over economic conditions that peaked in early January, Iran cut off the internet for several weeks, preventing the sharing of information with the rest of the world about the demonstrations and subsequent crackdown.

Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths in the unrest, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel. Foreign-based NGOs maintain that Iranian security forces fired on protesters. Unconfirmed reports have put the deaths in the tens of thousands.

“Iran managed to disable Starlink terminals for the first time” in this unrest, Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, head of the National Cyberspace Center, a state body overseeing the internet, tells national television.

He does not specify which technologies Iran employed.

Starlink, operated by SpaceX, offered an alternative for Iranians, but possessing its terminals carried the risk of imprisonment. The technology also showed limitations at the time, with experts claiming that Iran was successfully jamming the signals.

Iran has long blocked foreign websites like YouTube or Instagram, but Iranian users still access them using virtual private networks, or VPNs.

The restrictions are among the harshest in the world, while many foreign websites are also inaccessible due to international sanctions.

Earlier this year, Iran imposed the longest national internet blackout for a country ever recorded, after the outbreak of the Middle East war triggered by US-Israeli strikes in late February.