According to Check Point, while “Iran’s internet has gone dark, Iranian hackers ”are using Starlink. After a week of quiet we are seeing that ‘Handala Hack’ of MOIS is back, operating from Starlink IP ranges and hitting targets across the Middle East."

SpaceX's Starlink has dropped fees to help Iranian demonstrators share protest details globally, activists say.

In Iran, not only mobile and fixed networks are jammed, but also Starlink. We explain how this is likely achieved despite thousands of satellites.

New reports claim Elon Musk has made Starlink free in Iran. But that’s of little value if Iran’s countermeasures continue. This “state-level electronic warfare against consumer satellite internet infrastructure,” Gharib says, “reveals both the attack's effectiveness at degrading service and Starlink's resilience in maintaining basic connectivity.”

The near-total ban on outside communication has left Starlink as the only choice for many in the country to go online.

Video from the streets is one of the few ways of getting information out about the scale of the protests and the actions of Iranian authorities.

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Iran’s crackdown on dissidents is shaping up as one of the toughest security tests yet for Elon Musk ’s Starlink, which has served as a lifeline against state-imposed internet blackouts since its deployment during the war in Ukraine.

The satellite technology has become a vital communications lifeline after the government shut down the internet last week.

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.

SpaceX's internet satellite service known as Starlink is reportedly now accessible in Iran, where protests have shaken the nation for weeks.

On the evening of January 8, 2026, Iran's digital lifelines vanished almost simultaneously. Upload bars froze. Messages stalled mid-transmission. Within hours, a nationwide blackout severed roughly 90 million people from the outside world as mass demonstrations reached their peak intensity.