Iranian security forces are reportedly conducting raids in western Tehran to track down and confiscate Starlink satellite internet equipment, in a bid to prevent videos of ongoing anti-government protests from being shared abroad, according to accounts cited by international media, including the Wall Street Journal.
Officials view Starlink as a critical loophole in the country’s near-total internet shutdown, which protesters and citizen journalists have used to upload images of shootings, mass arrests, and large street rallies to foreign outlets and social platforms. Reports indicate that intelligence units are using signal-tracking, neighborhood sweeps, and house-to-house searches to identify dishes, with some residents allegedly threatened with severe penalties for hosting or operating the terminals.
Digital rights advocates warn that the campaign against Starlink users is part of a wider strategy that combines nationwide connectivity blackouts with targeted repression of those who manage to stay online. They argue that by criminalizing access to independent communications tools, authorities are not only trying to hide the scale of the violence but also to intimidate citizens from documenting future abuses.
