President Trump asked Elon Musk to get Starlink working more reliably in Iran to thwart the Iranian government’s Internet shutdown. Starlink operator SpaceX was apparently already working on the problem before Trump reached out to Musk.
Iran severed Internet connections and phone lines last week as the government conducted a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, according to numerous reports, which say that thousands of people have been killed.
Starlink hasn’t been completely disabled. The government’s jamming technology has reportedly caused Starlink packet loss of anywhere from 30 to 80 percent.
It appears that SpaceX has been trying to bypass the jamming for days. NasNet, a group that helps Iranians access Starlink, said in an X post on Saturday that it collaborated with the Starlink technical team on an update that reduced packet loss to about 10 percent. But the group described Starlink availability as “an ongoing game of cat and mouse; therefore, conditions may change again or even worsen,” according to a translation.
Trump told reporters Sunday on Air Force One that he wants Starlink to be available in Iran. “We may get the Internet going, if that’s possible,” Trump said, according to The Washington Post. “We may speak to Elon, ‘cause as you know, he’s very good at that kind of thing, he’s got a very good company. So we may speak to Elon Musk. And in fact, I’m going to call him as soon as I’m finished with you.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that Trump “has spoken to Elon” about Internet service in Iran.
Starlink illegal in Iran, but supported by US
SpaceX’s satellite Internet service has been used during protests despite the Iranian government “never authorizing Starlink to function, making the service illegal to possess and use,” The Associated Press wrote. Iranian authorities started “searching for and confiscating Starlink dishes in western Tehran” over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday.
In 2022, during a previous round of protests in which the Iranian government cracked down on demonstrators and cut off Internet access, the Biden administration issued a general license to let US companies make Internet services available to Iranians.