I learned from a BSides presentation that Ukranian military are using Starlink trancievers placed in pits to beat ground-based signal detection. Do with that what you will.
No, because the collimating effect on the beam would still require you to have line of sight to the emitter, and if a drone is able to get that close without being intercepted then something else has already gone wrong.
But this is also an example of weird absolutist thinking about military tactics: is it unbeatable? No. Does it complicate the surveillance and detection picture? Yes.
>Last year, the Iranian government passed legislation that made using, buying or selling Starlink devices punishable by up to two years in prison. The jail term for distributing or importing more than 10 devices can be up to 10 years.
1. The Iranian "protests" weren't organic. They were fomented by the US and Israel [1]. Trump openly admiited it [2].
2. The MEK has an storied history, including being designated as a terrorist group for many years. But what's important is that Kurdish separatists have historically been used as a foil by the US against regimes designated as enemies and then repeatedly being abandoned eg [3]. At the same time, the US allows Turkey to bomb and otherwise oppress Kurdish separatists in Turkey and Syria eg [4];
3. So what actually happened with the Iranian protests several months ago? The answer is that it's hard to say but there are some completely unfounded claims floating about like 20,000 to 30,000 dead. In 3 days. Amnesty International has scrutinized some of the claims [5]. It seems likely that at least 3000 died but were these protestors brutally crushed by the government or a the government quashing a foreign-backed uprising? We've established the foreign powers armed some of these groups;
4. The US essentially has no human intelligence in Iran. The US simply can't operate there. Israel can. Israel is made up of many ethnic groups, including people who are ethnically Persian and speak perfect Farsi. So part of the reason for the Internet crackdown is to stop Israeli intelligence assets operating freely in Iran, agree with that or not. Let's not forget that the US response to Pearl Harbor was to put literally every Japanese person into internment camps;
5. As another example of Israeli inteference in Iran, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan created a refugee crisis where over a million Afghan refugees in Iran. IT's widely believed that Mossad used these Afghan refugees to locale individuals for assassination, so much so that after the 12 day war Iran began expelling these refugees back to Afghanistan [6];
6. The US has quite literally been screwing over Iran since at least 1953 when the CIA at the urging of the British overthrew their democratically elected government. Pretty much everything since, including the Islamic Revolution in 1979 is a direct consequence of US inteference. That's 73 years now.
So my point is that you may look at the Internet blackout and say it's unfair that ordinary Iranians don't have Internet access. This is true but you should also know that Iran is in a war that it didn't start and such devices are being used by hostile foreign agents at a time of war when having such devices could get anyone having or transporting such devices executed.
Is anyone still under the illusion that this has anything to do with "bringing democracy to the people" and not yet another scheme for the USA/Israel to control Iran? There is a limit for credulity...
I suspect the Internet blackout in Iran is not actually related to its citizens - it isn't about silencing its citizens.
It is to prevent hacking and tracking by US and Israel of what is going on over there, it is defensive since it has been shown that Iran's connected infrastructure is thoroughly compromised.
I think the regime narrative is mostly made up by Americans what's the difference between any of the Arab countries from Iran. The only difference is they are not controlled by America. It the same bullshit narrative of promoting democracy but in reality it's just about pushing for a government no matter how bad as long as it supports US control.
Iranians are not Arabs and thousands of them got gunned down earlier this year protesting the regime. "America bad" doesn't change the fact that the Iranian people deserve a better future.
There's multiple motives, not just counter-organization. A media blackout prevents OSINT damage analysis, much like how the IDF and CENTCOM both censor reporting of attacks on their in-theater installations.
Is Iran's domestic internet still fully operational (sans access to/from the outside world)? If so, I wouldn't think the cut-off would help much security-wise because a single Starlink terminal would allow the US/Israel domestic access.
Don’t know why you’re getting downvoted for pointing out the obvious: yes obviously the US and Israel will exploit the information system of their enemy if they can, and it’s absolutely rational to deny them the opportunity to do so.
The government of Lebanon is cooperating with Israel - it's only the southerners/Hezbollah in conflict, at least for now. The people of Gaza are cut off for the most part. The strict censorship inside Israel is what you should compare to - not as strict as a total access ban, but if you say the wrong things or take pictures of the wrong stuff you're going to prison.
I learned from a BSides presentation that Ukranian military are using Starlink trancievers placed in pits to beat ground-based signal detection. Do with that what you will.
Wouldn't they be easily detected from airborne drones?
No, because the collimating effect on the beam would still require you to have line of sight to the emitter, and if a drone is able to get that close without being intercepted then something else has already gone wrong.
But this is also an example of weird absolutist thinking about military tactics: is it unbeatable? No. Does it complicate the surveillance and detection picture? Yes.
Maybe we need to start a GoFundMe to sponsor some of these Starlink terminals.... ?
It’s the death penalty for anyone caught with one.
Per the article, it's seemingly not?
>Last year, the Iranian government passed legislation that made using, buying or selling Starlink devices punishable by up to two years in prison. The jail term for distributing or importing more than 10 devices can be up to 10 years.
Shocking, but it may soon be (or is currently) true:
"Iran Prepares Death Penalty Law for Starlink Internet Use"
https://iranwire.com/en/news/145471-iran-prepares-death-pena...
Yeah but then Hesam died [1] ... yesterday in jail before having a trial. He was 40, wasn't an activist and had two daughters.
[1] https://x.com/indypersian/status/2050088043118211341
Some things are worth the risk.
The point being that we need to not incriminate these people.
For context:
1. The Iranian "protests" weren't organic. They were fomented by the US and Israel [1]. Trump openly admiited it [2].
2. The MEK has an storied history, including being designated as a terrorist group for many years. But what's important is that Kurdish separatists have historically been used as a foil by the US against regimes designated as enemies and then repeatedly being abandoned eg [3]. At the same time, the US allows Turkey to bomb and otherwise oppress Kurdish separatists in Turkey and Syria eg [4];
3. So what actually happened with the Iranian protests several months ago? The answer is that it's hard to say but there are some completely unfounded claims floating about like 20,000 to 30,000 dead. In 3 days. Amnesty International has scrutinized some of the claims [5]. It seems likely that at least 3000 died but were these protestors brutally crushed by the government or a the government quashing a foreign-backed uprising? We've established the foreign powers armed some of these groups;
4. The US essentially has no human intelligence in Iran. The US simply can't operate there. Israel can. Israel is made up of many ethnic groups, including people who are ethnically Persian and speak perfect Farsi. So part of the reason for the Internet crackdown is to stop Israeli intelligence assets operating freely in Iran, agree with that or not. Let's not forget that the US response to Pearl Harbor was to put literally every Japanese person into internment camps;
5. As another example of Israeli inteference in Iran, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan created a refugee crisis where over a million Afghan refugees in Iran. IT's widely believed that Mossad used these Afghan refugees to locale individuals for assassination, so much so that after the 12 day war Iran began expelling these refugees back to Afghanistan [6];
6. The US has quite literally been screwing over Iran since at least 1953 when the CIA at the urging of the British overthrew their democratically elected government. Pretty much everything since, including the Islamic Revolution in 1979 is a direct consequence of US inteference. That's 73 years now.
So my point is that you may look at the Internet blackout and say it's unfair that ordinary Iranians don't have Internet access. This is true but you should also know that Iran is in a war that it didn't start and such devices are being used by hostile foreign agents at a time of war when having such devices could get anyone having or transporting such devices executed.
[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/us/politics/iran-israel-t...
[2]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/6/has-trump-confirmed-...
[3]: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2012/03/09/mek-camp-ashraf
[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Turkish_offensive_into_no...
[5]: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2026/01/what-hap...
[6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Afghan_deportation_from_I...
Iran can't possibly pay you enough to post this crap.
Is anyone still under the illusion that this has anything to do with "bringing democracy to the people" and not yet another scheme for the USA/Israel to control Iran? There is a limit for credulity...
I thought that was exactly how the spies got made. As Iranians figured they could just narrow the signal.
I suspect the Internet blackout in Iran is not actually related to its citizens - it isn't about silencing its citizens.
It is to prevent hacking and tracking by US and Israel of what is going on over there, it is defensive since it has been shown that Iran's connected infrastructure is thoroughly compromised.
It’s 100% to prevent citizens from becoming organized. The regime is most fearful of this.
I think the regime narrative is mostly made up by Americans what's the difference between any of the Arab countries from Iran. The only difference is they are not controlled by America. It the same bullshit narrative of promoting democracy but in reality it's just about pushing for a government no matter how bad as long as it supports US control.
Iranians are not Arabs and thousands of them got gunned down earlier this year protesting the regime. "America bad" doesn't change the fact that the Iranian people deserve a better future.
FYI it’s not an Arab country
How did people organize pre-Internet times though?
which is the exact same reason China bans Starlink.
There's multiple motives, not just counter-organization. A media blackout prevents OSINT damage analysis, much like how the IDF and CENTCOM both censor reporting of attacks on their in-theater installations.
What an ignorant take.
this
well... so obvious
The internet is only off for those who don't have a special sim card, i.e. those who aren't associated with the IRGC.
The blackout started back in January before the US even got involved.
Due to widespread protests and an attempt to crack down on coordination. This chain of events was widely reported.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Internet_blackout_in_Iran
It definitely ramped up with the invasion. I watched the webcam streams go dark.
Is Iran's domestic internet still fully operational (sans access to/from the outside world)? If so, I wouldn't think the cut-off would help much security-wise because a single Starlink terminal would allow the US/Israel domestic access.
It’s defensive indeed! It’s defense against the people whom the regime is most afraid of!
How do people communicate now? And why wouldn’t that be compromised?
Except that Iran has been doing it since 2019: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Iran
Don’t know why you’re getting downvoted for pointing out the obvious: yes obviously the US and Israel will exploit the information system of their enemy if they can, and it’s absolutely rational to deny them the opportunity to do so.
Should internet and outside access be cut for people of Gaza and Lebanon too? Aren’t they targeted by Israel as well?
The government of Lebanon is cooperating with Israel - it's only the southerners/Hezbollah in conflict, at least for now. The people of Gaza are cut off for the most part. The strict censorship inside Israel is what you should compare to - not as strict as a total access ban, but if you say the wrong things or take pictures of the wrong stuff you're going to prison.