Iranian authorities have implemented a near-total shutdown of the internet in a crackdown on widespread anti-government protests, but a sliver of the population is keeping in touch with the outside world by satellite.
Starlink, a division of Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, is playing an outsized — and in the eyes of overseas activists, crucial — role in connecting Iran with the rest of the world as the country's leadership turns to force to try to quash the protests.
Starlink provides high-speed internet access, and can be used in many places where internet connections are hard to get, including rural areas and at sea. It has also been used in conflict zones before. After Russia's invasion, SpaceX made Starlink available in Ukraine, and it quickly became crucial for civilians and the military.
More than 2,600 people have been killed so far in Iran's crackdown, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. NPR has not independently confirmed this figure. There are some signs demonstrations are easing in Iran, with President Trump saying the killing appeared to be ending, as Iran calls off executions.
Activists say many of the images and videos of protests that have emerged since the blackout have come via Starlink.
Farzaneh Badiei, an internet policy researcher who follows Iran, said it plays an important role in keeping the outside world, and people inside Iran, informed.
"Every time the government has shut down the internet they have killed many more people than when people had access to internet and could report it and could livestream it," she said. "That's why having access to internet that cannot be shut down is an enabler of human rights."
With some 9,500 low-earth orbit satellites, Starlink's constellation comprises about two-thirds of all active satellites around Earth. The satellites relay the internet from base stations on Earth to users with a Starlink receiver, or "dish," that's about the size of a computer monitor.
"The great thing about it is there's no wire for the government to cut," said Jonathan McDowell, a satellite expert with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. "It's very hard to censor because the signal is coming from the sky, and so if you have one of these dishes, you don't have to go through a local telecom provider."
While Starlink's satellite network forms a grid that blankets most of the Earth, it is not legal for use in every corner of the planet.
In 2022, SpaceX first made its satellite internet service available to people in Iran. The Iranian leadership, which tightly controls the internet, has pushed back. The authorities tried to quash Starlink's use through regulation and legal protests against SpaceX. Last summer, the Iranian parliament criminalized the use of Starlink.
Regardless, the number of receivers in the country has grown, according to activists.
Ahmad Ahmadian, executive director of the non-profit Holistic Resilience, which helps Iranians circumvent internet censorship, estimated that there are some 50,000 units in the country. They are bought abroad, smuggled in and traded on the black market.
He and other activists say SpaceX appears to have made access free in the country, waiving its normal subscription fee. "We are glad that this has happened, and we confirmed it with the users inside Iran," Ahmadian said.
Neither SpaceX nor the White House confirmed this with NPR. But the news comes after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump and Elon Musk had spoken about the issue.
Ahmadian said about half of the receivers in Iran were in use, although he expected more to come online now that the service is free.
Critics, however, have long flagged what they see as risks in relying on internet infrastructure that is controlled by a private company.
"I'm always concerned that this technology depends on the whims of one individual," Ahmadian said. He said he did not, however, think it was a major issue for Iranians at the moment, given U.S. political support for the protest movement.
In Iran, using Starlink devices carries substantial risk.
Rights groups have said the government has been hunting down people using these devices. Analysts and activists also say the authorities have been jamming Starlink's signals, with mixed success.
"It looks like [the jamming is] neighborhood by neighborhood," said Amir Rashidi, a cybersecurity and policy expert at Miaan Group, a human rights NGO. Rashidi said he has been in touch with people on the ground in Iran using Starlink, and believes its use cannot be suppressed.
"They don't have — I think we should say, thanks to God — they don't have the technology to be able to stop a Starlink," he said.
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