Iran widens net over Starlink imports

Iranian authorities have arrested four people, including two foreign nationals, over the alleged import of SpaceX Starlink terminals, sharpening a crackdown on one of the few remaining channels for uncensored internet access inside the country. Iranian state-linked reporting, carried by Reuters on Sunday, said the arrests were made in the north-west and linked by officials to an alleged espionage network tied to the United States and Israel. The nationalities of the two foreigners were not disclosed.

The case appears to have unfolded in Jolfa, in East Azerbaijan province, where Tasnim quoted the local public prosecutor as saying the suspects had been involved in importing satellite internet equipment. That matters because Starlink hardware is banned in Iran, even as the service has become a symbol of digital resistance for people trying to bypass state controls, communicate with the outside world and document unrest.

The arrests come against the backdrop of a prolonged communications squeeze that has left Iran under one of the world’s most severe internet disruptions. Reuters and other reporting on Iran’s blackout show authorities have repeatedly tightened access during periods of internal unrest and external conflict, while rights groups say the shutdowns have endangered civilians and obstructed the flow of independent information. Human Rights Watch said in March that the restrictions heightened risks to civilians and called for communications to be restored.

Starlink has occupied a politically charged space in that environment. Reuters reported in January that the satellite network had become a high-profile test of whether a private communications system could outmanoeuvre a state determined to seal off digital space. Protesters and activists had used smuggled terminals to send images and videos abroad, while authorities responded with jamming, GPS spoofing and criminal enforcement aimed at sellers, couriers and users.

That enforcement drive has been widening for weeks. Bloomberg reported on March 31, citing Iranian media and the police chief, that authorities had seized 139 Starlink devices and arrested 46 people involved in selling the terminals. Separate reports from Reuters and Iran-focused outlets point to additional arrests in Qom and other provinces over alleged possession, use or distribution of Starlink equipment, suggesting the crackdown is no longer limited to isolated smuggling cases but has become part of a broader security campaign.

Iranian officials have wrapped that campaign in the language of wartime security. Reuters reported on March 31 that the judiciary warned people accused of spying or cooperating with hostile states could face the death penalty and asset confiscation under an enhanced law. While not every Starlink-related case has been framed in capital-offence terms, the legal atmosphere has clearly hardened, with authorities increasingly treating unauthorised communications tools as a national security threat rather than a regulatory violation.

For Tehran, the Starlink issue cuts across sovereignty, surveillance and information control. The government has long sought to channel online life through its domestic National Information Network, where access can be filtered and monitored more tightly. Starlink disrupts that model because it offers a parallel path to the global internet beyond terrestrial telecom networks. For users, especially activists, journalists and families trying to stay in contact during shutdowns, that makes it valuable. For the authorities, it makes the technology difficult to tolerate.

Yet the crackdown also underlines the limits of state control. Reuters reported in January that tens of thousands of terminals were believed to have entered Iran through smuggling networks, despite the ban. Digital rights groups and outside observers have argued that demand for Starlink has grown precisely because official channels have become so unreliable during crises. Even with jamming and arrests, the persistence of the black market suggests the state is still struggling to eliminate access completely.