Clandestine network smuggles Starlink terminals into Iran amid internet blackout

A clandestine network is pushing Starlink terminals into Iran to help residents show "the real picture" of a country cut off by one of the world’s most severe internet blackouts. The terminals are illegal inside Iran, but Sahand says the links have become a rare way to document events in real time while state controls tighten.

Sahand said he had sent a dozen terminals into Iran since January and that the network was still looking for new routes to move more equipment across the border. He said he feared reprisals against family members and contacts if the regime identified him. Each terminal can support several users at once, turning a single device into a small communications hub in a country where ordinary access has been repeatedly throttled or severed.

The blackout now gripping Iran began after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on 28 February, following an earlier digital shutdown in January during a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests. That pattern fits a long-running strategy of information control. Freedom House gave Iran a score of 13 out of 100 in its 2025 internet freedom assessment, citing extensive censorship, surveillance, content manipulation, and harassment of users. The group also said authorities have repeatedly pushed people onto a controlled domestic internet and imposed shutdowns during politically sensitive moments.

The scale of the shadow network is already substantial. Witness estimated in January that there were at least 50,000 Starlink terminals in Iran, and activists believe the number has risen since then. Georgia Institute of Technology’s Internet Intelligence Lab said the shutdown that began on Jan. 8, 2026, lasted longer than the 48.5-hour outage in June 2025 and longer than the nearly seven-day blackout in November 2019. It also said the 2026 disruption extended to fixed-line connectivity, making it more complete than earlier cuts.

The legal risk is severe. Iran passed legislation last year making the use, buying or selling of Starlink devices punishable by up to two years in prison, while distributing or importing more than 10 devices can bring up to 10 years. The policy fight over access has stretched beyond Iran’s borders. The U.S. Treasury issued Iran General License D-2 on Sept. 23, 2022, to expand support for internet freedom and anti-censorship tools, while Iran told the United Nations Security Council two months later that Starlink receivers were being smuggled in and argued that the service was illegal without Iranian authorization.