Elon Musk’s Starlink is reportedly offering free services to users in Iran, but has experienced communication outages amid widespread anti-government protests.
SpaceX’s satellite communication service is one of the few ways images and videos of the protests and ensuing government crackdown are leaking out of Iran. Here’s what you need to know:
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How is Starlink used in Iran?
Since Iran’s government cut off access to much of the internet on Thursday, Iranians have been using proxy tools and the Starlink constellation of low-orbit satellites to go online and share news of the protests with the outside world.
Starlink does not have a license to operate in Iran, but thousands of devices have been smuggled into Iran since then-US President Joe Biden authorized US tech companies in 2022 to circumvent sanctions and sell Iranian communications tools. The move coincided with large-scale protests during the detention of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested on suspicion of wearing the hijab inappropriately.
Most recently, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that he wants Starlink to restore internet access to Iran and said he would speak with Musk about the issue.
Neither Starlink nor Musk have officially confirmed the news, but a person familiar with Starlink’s services told Bloomberg that the company provides free services to Iran.
Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam – Director of Iran Human Rights, a human rights organization with members from inside and outside Iran – told Al Jazeera that access to Starlink played a vital role in sharing information about the protests, including estimates of the death toll.
“This was very important because without the information there would have been no alternative,” Amiri Moghaddam said.
Iran has not released an official death toll, but authorities said more than 100 members of its security forces were killed. Opposition activists said the death toll was even higher, including more than 1,000 demonstrators. The U.S.-based Human Rights Defenders News Agency said the death toll had reached at least 2,571. Al Jazeera cannot independently verify these figures.
How does this communication failure compare to past ones?
According to the Internet Association, a digital rights nonprofit, Iran has experienced 17 internet shutdowns since 2018, with varying degrees of severity.
The outages coincide with periods of social unrest, including protests over fuel prices in 2019 and demonstrations in 2022 after Amini’s death, according to Cloudflare, a global cybersecurity and cloud services company.
Iran also temporarily cut off access to the internet in June during Israel’s 12-day war with the United States.
However, Amily Moghaddam said this month’s power outages were more widespread than in previous years due to geographical coverage and restrictions on international phone access.
“In 2019, there was a full-scale power outage. In 2022, some areas were without power for several hours. But never before has the whole country been cut off for days like we are now. Never before has there been such a widespread power outage,” said Amily Moghaddam.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Fars News Agency announced in a Telegram post on Wednesday that it had regained access to the National Information Network, the country’s state-controlled intranet.
The post said a “final decision on expanding access to the internet” would be made by “relevant authorities” within the next two weeks.
How is Iran blocking communications?
Iran’s latest shutdown was preceded by several days of “anomalies” in internet traffic as anti-government protests spread across the country, according to Cloudflare analysis.
After an initial shutdown on Thursday, connectivity was briefly restored on Friday, but as of Saturday, Iran “remains almost completely cut off from the global internet,” according to the analysis.
In a departure from past power outages, the Iranian government attempted to jam Starlink’s signals and seize the terminal.
Amir Rashidi, director of internet security and digital rights at the nonprofit organization Mian Group, told Al Jazeera: “No previous incident has resulted in an internet shutdown as severe as this one.” “I never saw Iran trying to sabotage Starlink. That never happened. Now they’re doing it.”
Iranian state media on Tuesday shared a video on Telegram of the seized Starlink terminals and other communications equipment still in their original packaging, describing them as “items of electronic espionage and sabotage.”
According to the post, Iran’s Ministry of Information said the items were to be distributed to areas experiencing unrest.
How does Starlink work?
Starlink’s “constellation” of communications satellites orbits in low-Earth orbit approximately 550 km (340 miles) above the Earth’s surface.
On Earth, anyone who wants to connect to the Internet must have a Wi-Fi-enabled satellite receiver. Similar to cell phones that connect to different base stations as users move, Starlink receivers, also known as terminals, must constantly hand off from one satellite to another as they pass overhead.
This is in contrast to traditional communications satellites, which are “geostationary,” meaning they orbit the same location on the Earth’s surface. In other words, Starlink customers aren’t just dependent on one satellite. However, this also means that Starlink receivers are designed to receive signals from a wider angle, making them more susceptible to interference.
How is Starlink used in Ukraine and elsewhere?
Starlink is also providing free broadband service to Venezuela until February 3, SpaceX said. This decision was made in response to the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro by US special forces on January 3.
The company also offered a month of free service to users affected by natural disasters such as Hurricane Melissa and the 2025 Canadian wildfires.
However, Starlink’s track record has been mixed and controversial in some countries.
What is the controversy surrounding the use of Starlink?
The satellite service provided a critical communications lifeline for Ukraine’s military after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but in September 2022, Musk reportedly ordered the shutdown of Starlink in several regions of Ukraine as Kiev prepared to fight back.
Starlink is also used by various groups in Sudan and Myanmar, where long-standing civil wars have led to frequent communications failures.
Fraud centers in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos use Starlink to stay online despite efforts by international law enforcement to cut off power and internet connections. SpaceX announced in October that it had disabled thousands of devices in the region, although fraud centers remain in the country. The United Nations estimates that at least 220,000 people will be trafficked to work in fraud centers in 2023, engaging in online love, investment, and cryptocurrency fraud on behalf of criminal organizations.
Meanwhile, critics say a private company’s decision to operate without a permit in Iran raises questions about the power of big business to violate national sovereignty.
In 2023, Iran filed a complaint with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations’ telecommunications arm, alleging that Starlink was being deployed in the country without authorization. The ITU ruled in Iran’s favor and declared Starlink’s actions illegal.
