Vijesti â Secret network smuggles Starlink technology into Iran to beat internet blockade
Sahand tells the BBC World Service that he is sending satellite internet terminals to Iran to help show âthe real pictureâ.
âEven if one more person manages to access the internet, I think it was successful and worth it,â says Sahand.
The Iranian is visibly nervous, speaking to the BBC from outside Iran, as he carefully explains how he is part of a secret network of smugglers of satellite internet technology â which is illegal in Iran â into this country.
Sahand, whose name we have changed, fears for family members and other contacts inside the country.
âIf the Iranian regime were to identify me, they could make those I am in contact with in Iran pay a heavy price,â he says.
Iran has been in digital darkness for more than two months as the government maintains one of the longest national internet shutdowns ever recorded in the world.
The current blockade began after America and Israel launched airstrikes on the country on February 28th.
Before that, internet access was partially restored just a month after a previous digital blockade in January, imposed during the regimeâs deadly crackdown on national protests.
More than 6.500 protesters were killed and 53.000 arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Officials say the government imposed an internet blockade during the war for security reasons, suggesting the aim was to prevent surveillance, espionage and cyberattacks.
The Starlink devices that Sahand is sending to Iran are one of the most reliable ways to bypass the blockade.
The flat white terminals, paired with routers, provide internet access by connecting to a network of satellites owned by Elon Muskâs SpaceX company, allowing users to completely bypass Iranâs tightly controlled domestic internet.
According to Sahand, several people can connect to each terminal simultaneously.
He says he and others in this network buy them and âsmuggle them across the borderâ in a âvery complex operation,â although he declined to provide details.
Sahand says he has sent dozens of them to Iran since January and that âwe are actively looking for other ways to smuggle even more of them.â
The human rights organization Witness estimated in January that there were at least 50,000 Starlink terminals in Iran.
Activists say that number has likely increased in the meantime.
The BBC contacted SpaceX for more details about the use of Starlink in the country, but did not receive any response.
Last year, the Iranian government passed a law that makes the use, purchase, or sale of Starlink devices punishable by up to two years in prison.
The prison sentence for distributing or importing more than 10 devices can be up to 10 years.
State media reports several cases of arrests for the sale and purchase of Starlink terminals, including four people â two foreign nationals â arrested last month for âimporting satellite internet equipment.â
They also report that some of the arrests include charges of possessing illegal weapons and sending information to the enemy.
However, the market for terminals in Iran still lives on, including through a public Persian-language channel on Telegram called NasNet.
A volunteer connected to the channel outside Iran told the BBC that approximately 5.000 Starlink terminals have been sold through it in the last two and a half years.
Iran has a long history of controlling information, both pushing its own anti-American and anti-Israel narratives through state media and limiting reporting on the repressive measures the regime uses against critics.
And yet during the January protests, even with the internet blocked, reports and video evidence of extrajudicial killings, arrests, and beatings emerged.
Most of this information is known or came from people who accessed social networks through Starlink, human rights organizations believe.
Iranâs current internet setup is described as a âtiered system.â
All Iranians have access to state-run domestic networks that run services such as banking, taxi ordering, and food delivery, as well as state-run media.
Before the blockades, Iranians were also able to access the global internet.
But many internet sites and services such as Instagram, Telegram, YouTube and Vocap are blocked, and the government has set higher prices for access to them than for the domestic network.
Many Iranians have circumvented restrictions by using virtual private networks (VPNs), which connect users to websites via remote servers, hiding their locations.
Subscriptions for them have also raised costs.
Now, under the blockade, only a select few officials and other individuals, including journalists working for state media, have unfettered access to the internet using what is known as a âwhite SIM card.â
In 2022, Elon Musk announced that he would activate Starlink in Iran after severe internet restrictions during protests sparked by the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Since then, its use has only increased, especially during blockades.
Now that authorities are increasingly focused on hunting down Starlink terminals, Sahand and his network are advising users to use VPNs with satellite technology to remain undetected.
But many people cannot afford it, especially in times of economic crisis.
Sahand is one of three people the BBC spoke to who claim to be involved in the smuggling of Starlink devices.
He says the operation he is involved in, including the purchase of the terminal, is being funded by Iranians abroad and others who want to help those in the country.
He says they do not receive funding from any state.
Terminals are sent to people they believe will use them to share information with the world.
âPeople need the internet to be able to share whatâs happening on the ground,â says Sahand.
âWe believe these terminals should be in the hands of those who really need them to bring about change.â
A digital rights group, which asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC it estimated that at least 100 people had been arrested for possessing the terminals.
Sahand says he also knows people who have been arrested for accessing or possessing the terminal â but none of them obtained it through him.
Jasmine, an Iranian-American whose name we have also changed, told the BBC that a male member of her family was arrested in Iran and charged with espionage for possessing a Starlink terminal.
The BBC asked the Iranian embassy in London why only a few people have internet access in Iran and why the penalties for using Starlink are so severe, but received no response.
The Iranian government, however, acknowledged that the blockade had hit some businesses hard, with a minister saying in January that each day of internet blockade was costing the economy at least 50 trillion rials ($35 million).
It recently launched a program called âInternet Pro,â which allows some companies some access to the worldwide internet.
A man who works for a company in Iran told the BBC that he gained access through this initiative.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the intention was to âpreserve business connectivity during the crisis.â
She also said that the government is âcompletely against communication injusticeâ and that as soon as the situation returns to normal, âthe situation with the internet will also change.â
âCommunication blockades are blatant violations of human rights and can never be justified,â Marwa Fatafta, director of regional policy and advocacy at Access Now, a digital rights group, told the BBC World Service on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
She warns that internet blockades are becoming the ânew norm.â
According to Exxes Now, in 2025 there were 313 of them in 52 countries, the highest number in the world since it began tracking them in 2016.
Citizens from Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Russia and Iran experienced the highest number of internet blockages last year, according to a digital rights group.
Roja Boroumand, executive director of the Abdorahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights, says that the information vacuum in Iran âenables the state to broadcast its own narrative, portraying protesters as violent actors or foreign agents, while their victims, including those sentenced to death, and informed sources are silenced.
Thatâs a big motivation for Sahand.
âThe Iranian regime has shown that during the blockade it can kill,â he says.
âIt is of utmost importance for the Iranians to be able to present a realistic picture of the situation on the ground.â
He says those who volunteer to help with smuggling are âaware of the risks.â
But he adds that it is a âstruggleâ and that âwe feel that we somehow have to intervene and help.â
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