Since December 2025, the internet connectivity in Iran had been going on and off amid the protests that started over economic woes. It was restored partially, but as US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28, and triggered a region-wide war, the communication blockade plagues the Islamic Republic. Track live updates on Iran US war
However, a smuggling network is ensuring that Iran doesn’t go off the communication radar by sending Starlink devices to Iran to bypass the internet shutdown, according to a BBC report.
Getting connected through Starlink becomes even more risky as the Iranian regime last year placed it under a ban.
How smuggled Starlink is helping Iranians bypass shutdown
The BBC report quoted an individual with the pseudonym Sahand who lives outside Iran and âbuysâ the Starlink devices and smuggles them through borders in operations that he termed âvery complexâ. There are many others like Sahand who help Iranians get internet access via smuggling.
He was quoted as saying that he has sent a dozen Starlink devices to Iran since January. The networks is also actively looking for other ways to smuggle in more, he said.
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The devices provide internet access by connecting to a network of satellites owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company and allows users to completely bypass Iran’s heavily controlled domestic internet, the report added.
According to a human rights organisation Witness, there were approximately 50,000 Starlink devices in Iran in January. The number is expected to have gone up since then.
Censorship, surveillance and VPNs
The internet in Iran hasn’t been free. The clerical government has imposed restrictions over it for years and enforced filters and policed content on platforms like YouTube and Instagram. However, before the war, Iranians managed to bypass the restrictions with cheap virtual private networks, known as VPNs, and other easy workarounds, according to the Associated Press.
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But with the two-month-long internet blackout, the prices of VPNs in the black-market have risen. The Iranian regime banned Starlink last year and Iranian state media routinely report arrests of people for using illegal VPNs or the American satellite system Starlink.
Senior government officials are awarded âwhiteâ SIM cards granting them access to the global internet. Under pressure to alleviate the economic harm, the government is now allowing less-restricted internet access to a small number of professions, business and media.
Internet blockade and an unexpected digital divide
Iranâs record internet blackout is emerging as a key dividing line between the countryâs powerful security apparatus under the Iran Guards and its civilian government, the Bloomberg reported.
While the Iran’s civil and military leadership is appearing as a united front against the Washington in the ongoing war, internet has created fault lines. Top government officials have become increasingly vocal about their opposition to the shutdown, imposed by authorities led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps two months ago.
The shutdown has rendered a major blow to the Iranian economy â estimated at $80 million per day by the Chamber of Commerce. The pleas from the civilian government are reportedly being overruled by the security services, notably the IRGC.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the IRGC, described via a statement on Telegram that the internet is âthe main platform for directing anti-security movements.â Restricting access thwarts âterrorist operations by domestic traitorsâ by severing their communication with foreign spies, it said, emphasizing that security takes âabsolute precedenceâ over the economic costs of the shutdown.