Overview
- National connectivity has plunged to roughly 1–5% of normal since January 8, with only intermittent restorations such as limited outbound calling reported on Tuesday.
- Bloomberg reports, citing activists and a person at SpaceX, that Starlink service has been made free for users in Iran, though the company has not issued an official statement.
- Possession of Starlink equipment has been illegal since 2025 and can carry sentences of up to ten years, with authorities conducting seizures during house searches.
- Activists say tens of thousands of terminals are in the country, with estimates ranging from about 20,000 to over 50,000 according to the group Holistic Resilience and its lead, Ahmad Ahmadian.
- Iran’s controls include withdrawing BGP routes, fingerprinting encrypted traffic, and using military-grade jammers that heavily degrade satellite links, leaving Starlink reportedly functional only in limited or remote areas.