Iran arrests man, accuses him of running Starlink internet network: Report
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Iran arrests man, accuses him of running Starlink internet network: Report")
Elon Musk’s Sarlink had proved to be a communication lifeline for some protesters in Iran Photograph: (AFP)
It is still very difficult to contact those inside Iran amid the internet outage imposed by the government at the start of the war, but some tech-savvy residents have been using Starlink devices and sharing their connection with others.
The Iranian police have arrested a man in the southern Fars Province for allegedly leading a network that provided access to the internet via Starlink terminals, a technology that is banned in Iran, amid a ban in the country, the ISNA news agency reported on Friday. Iran has enforced a complete internet shutdown and digitally sealed off the country from the rest of the world since the start of the ongoing war with the IS and Israel that broke out on February 28.
In a bid to access the internet, some Iranians tried to get around those restrictions by turning to Starlink terminals from the US company SpaceX, which connect to the internet via satellites. However, doing so is a criminal offence in Iran and is punishable with prison time.
“A 37-year-old man, who had put in place a network in several provinces of the country to sell access to the unrestricted internet via Starlink, has been arrested in Shiraz,” ISNA reported, citing a deputy police commander for Fars province, but did not mention when the arrest took place.
Under Iranian law, people found guilty of the “use, transportation, purchase, or sale of electronic internet communication devices such as Starlink” used to access banned content can be jailed for up to two years.
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Internet blackout in Iran since the start of war
It is still very difficult to contact those inside Iran amid the internet outage imposed by the government at the start of the war, but some tech-savvy residents have been using Starlink devices and sharing their connection with others.
Iranians were previously placed under an 18-day internet blackout in January, the longest so far, amid the anti-government protests during which thousands were killed.
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The authorities had then managed to disrupt the operation of Starlink terminals.
Elon Musk’s Sarlink had proved to be a communication lifeline for some protesters in Iran, but then Tehran deployed military-grade GPS jammers to prevent people from accessing or sending out information.
Starlink terminals use GPS signals to locate themselves and connect to satellites. Iran disrupted these signals to cut off access.
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‘Iran’s military destroyed 111 enemy drones so far’
Iran's military has destroyed 111 enemy drones since the start of the Middle East war, the Revolutionary Guard’s Sepah News portal reported on Friday.
It said the Guards had destroyed an MQ-9 over Fars province and another aircraft in Tabriz but did not provide a breakup of how many were cheap, one-way explosive drones versus more sophisticated multi-use aircraft such as the MQ-9.
