Name: Iran's regime deploys military-grade jamming devices to disrupt Starlink signals | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-01-21T17:00:58.000Z
Duration: 6 min 49 s
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Anti regime protests rage across Iran amid an Internet blackout.

Adverbs of degree

Getting videos like these that show not just protests, but

bodies at a morgue out of the country is illegal and difficult.

One of the ways to get around the blackout is Starlink, part of Elon Musk's SpaceX company, which functions as a satellite Internet provider.

The company is provided free access after the blackout began.

It did the same thing in Iran in 2022 and in Ukraine after Russia's full scale invasion.

Starlink bypasses national telecom networks using dishes linked to satellites, offering Internet connectivity from space.

Data moves between satellites using laser links.

When it reaches a ground station, a Starlink terminal, it's processed and then sent back the same way.

Activists say There are between 50 and 100,000 Starlink terminals in Iran and a country of about 90 million people.

They are illegal and expensive, putting them out of reach of most people.

The Iranian regime has deployed military grade jamming devices to try to disrupt the Starlink signal.

Government forces also fly drones searching for terminals.

The penalty for possessing a Starlink terminal in Iran can be severe.

Those caught with terminals can be considered spies for Israel or the US which the regime blames for the unrest and face years in prison.

But there's also a risk for the entire protest movement.

Elon Musk, the man who controls Starlink, has shown himself to be volatile.

He already threatened to cut off Ukraine's free satellite service, a warning to anyone in a country where the Internet goes dark, their lifeline can also be cut off.

Let's keep talking about this and bring in Amir Rashidi.

He's the director of cybersecurity and digital rights at Mian Group.

That's an Iran focused human rights organ organization.

For many Iranians, Starlink has been the only connection to the outside world for a while now.

What impact has the use of the technology, especially since the mass protests of the past weeks had.

Imagine you're living in complete darkness and the only source of the light you have is just a candle.

And for a country like 90 million population, those sellings are.

Every single one of those sellings is like a source of a candlelight that you need to, you know, see if your loved one are safe, secure, if you need a medical, you know, assistance or anything like that.

So that's, that's how Whitelaw is having access to the communication in situation like now in Iran, to connect to Starlink you need a terminal.

We heard it in the report, they're illegal and expensive.

How have the ones that are now operating inside Iran entered the Country.

So most of these stallings have been smuggled into the country.

In particular after, during the Biden administration when they issued a special license for starting to be able to operate in Iran.

So those stallings were smuggled into in Iran and over time naturally some sort of black market was created.

You know, shops in Dubai or you know, country around Iran is starting to, you know, selling is selling obviously expensive people who can afford can buying it and also people who can afford the risk, not only the cost.

Having said that Also there are VPNs being connected to sellings and those VPNs also they have a really good market in Iran.

Each connection would be sell 1 million to man which could be like around 6, 7 US dollars in the current situation, economic situation in Iran.

This is a really high price people willing to pay.

What happens if people are caught using Starlink?

So after Israel attacked Iran, the Iranian parliament passed a law to control most of the digital communication and even non digital things like even you know, as simple as leaving a comment on social media of some, some accounts that the Iranian government considered them supporter, supporter of isra Israel or United States is a crime.

And getting even more complicated and you know, more hardcore kind of, you know, laws that if you have a stalling basically is equivalent to running an espionage operation for Israeli or American.

So the penalty could be up to the death sentence.

But again when you're living in a country that your government killing you in the street and at the same time shutting down the entire communication, you might be able to, you know, do that kind of risk.

The regime of course wants people to remain in the dark.

What else are authorities doing to inhibit the use of censorship, circumvention method?

Those jamming devices are quite similar to what Russia have done in Ukraine, but.

But they are not as effective as the government wants.

If I want to put it in a simple term, not using, you know, any technical words, it's like a fly sitting on your nose.

It's annoying, you're not happy with it, but it's not going to kill you.

You can just simply move your hand and you know, the fly would go away.

That's how they trying to basically block people.

But at the same time we have news and information that some companies in Iran are being commissioned by the Iranian government to try and identify pattern of traffic that VPNs those VPNs are connected to Starlink.

Identify the pattern of those traffic and then trying to block or either go after people who are running Starlink dishes.

If somebody is in Iran, it's very important to run a VPN on top of the Starlink to try to hide basically your IP address and anything that might lead to tracking back to you.

It's better to look for the most safe and secure one that can turn your traffic into the anonymous traffic.

Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and Digital Rights at Me On Group.