Iran minister warns Starlink could be "final nail in the coffin" for Tehran's internet control
Deputy communications minister Mohammad Hafez Hakami says satellite services operating outside state telecoms are rendering Iran's shutdown strategy "less effective", warning officials "may be forced to cut electricity" in the next crisis.
The growing use of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite-internet service could deal the “final nail in the coffin” to Iran’s ability to control cyberspace, Deputy Communications Minister Mohammad Hafez Hakami has warned, in a rare admission from Tehran that its censorship apparatus is losing ground.
Hakami said Iranian authorities had relied on progressively tougher restrictions during past unrest — from blocking individual platforms in 2017 to cutting nationwide internet access in 2019, restricting major platforms after the 2022 protests, and disconnecting the network during unrest this year — but that the strategy was becoming “less effective” as satellite-based services such as Starlink operate outside Iran’s state-controlled telecommunications infrastructure, Gulf News reported, citing UK-based Iran International, which first reported the remarks on 30 September (https://www.iranintl.com/en/202609308123).
“If this continues, in the next crisis we may be forced to cut electricity,” Hakami said, according to Persian-language reports. He added that Starlink and direct-to-cell satellite services could render measures such as device registration and user-identity verification ineffective, Tehran-based outlet Rouydad24 reported.
Starlink is not licensed in Iran. The admission lands as Tehran continues to disconnect the country’s network during periods of unrest.
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