Access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service is now free in Iran as regime continues brutal crackdown on protests

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN

(CNN) — Elon Musk’s SpaceX is now providing free internet access via its Starlink satellite service to users in Iran as the country’s regime continues its bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, according to a tech expert in touch with Iranian Starlink users.

Starlink accounts in Iran that were previously inactive now have connections and their subscription fees have been waived as of Tuesday, said Ahmad Ahmadian, executive director at the technology nonprofit Holistic Resilience. “It’s plug and connect … just put [the satellite terminal] somewhere that has access to a clear view of the sky, and you’re good to go,” he told CNN.

The news follows a phone call earlier this week between US President Donald Trump and Musk in which the two men discussed Starlink access in Iran. Neither SpaceX nor the White House responded to requests for comment.

For several days, the Iranian government has choked off internet access for its population while reportedly killing over 1,800 protesters in what observers say is one of the regime’s largest ever digital blackouts. The death toll could be much higher because the communications shutdown has made it harder to tally, according to human rights groups.

Providing free access will be a welcome step for activists, but it’s only likely to help a small percentage of Iran’s 92 million population get online and the regime has the ability to jam Starlink, experts told CNN.

‘The only way to get the information out’

The scale of the information blackout means that Starlink in some cases has been “the only way to get the information out” to the world about the protesters being killed, Ahmadian told CNN. With thousands of low-orbit satellites worldwide that communicate with ground equipment, Starlink has become a crucial arm of US soft power in closed societies or war zones like Ukraine.

Trump has told the protesters to keep resisting the Iranian regime while claiming that all options for US support for the protesters, including military action, are on the table.

Iran’s rulers have “created their own Great Firewall that blocks everything but approved traffic,” Doug Madory, who works at network monitoring firm Kentik, told CNN. Blocking internet access for Iranians is relatively straightforward for the regime, Madory said, because there are only two companies that connect Iran to the internet.

The Iranian government is building on decades of experience in surveilling its population and exporting that surveillance to other countries, like Syria, according to experts. Right now, Iranian authorities are using various tactics to jam or degrade Starlink signals within Iran, according to Ahmadian. Some of that is “military-grade” jamming similar to what Russia has done to Starlink terminals on the front lines in Ukraine, he added.

To get around the regime’s firewall, digital rights activists have pleaded for more access to Starlink for Iranians. Although Starlink is not officially licensed to operate in Iran, Musk previously stated that the service is active and available in the country. Iranian authorities criminalized use of Starlink after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last year.

Despite the risk of being executed for using Starlink terminals, there was a “surge” in demand for the equipment inside Iran following the war with Israel, according to Ahmadian.

50,000 Starlink receivers provide a ‘small window’ into the crackdown

Starlink connections have provided “a small window’ into the bloody crackdown in Iran, said Mahsa Alimardani, a technology specialist at human rights organization Witness.

“Estimates say there are around 50,000 Starlink receivers in Iran,” Alimardani told CNN. “If that window could be expanded, it could be a boon and even a deterrent to the regime in its efforts to commit what is likely going to be labelled an atrocity under a blackout.”

Aside from Starlink, the US government has for years funded virtual private networks (VPNs) and other software tools to help Iranians evade censorship. The Trump administration last year cut funding for those efforts amid a broader reduction in US foreign assistance.

At least one organization that worked to provide Starlink terminals to the Iranian people lost US funding, CNN has reported. Some groups still have their US government support intact, but they are wary to discuss the details publicly because they do not want to risk their funding being pulled, said two sources familiar with that ongoing work.

There was widespread frustration among career officials at the State Department at the time of the Iran-related funding cuts. “Even if programs are active, a number of them are struggling because payments aren’t being made on time,” a State Department official familiar with the issue told CNN in July.

CNN has requested comment from the State Department. Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations declined to comment for this story.

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