Iran claims it knocked Starlink offline, warns satellites are now military targets
Iran says it has “more tools” to take on Starlink – and warns the satellite network could become a “legitimate military target.”
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- Iran claims it deleberately caused January’s Starlink disruption for the first time.
- Tehran says it has more up its sleeve to take on the Musk-owned satellite service.
- Iran is now warning Starlink could cross the line from internet service to military target.
- Iran renews a diplomatic clash with Norway centered on claims Starlink is used for “espionage.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Iranian leaders on Monday claim responsibility for causing a January Starlink outage amid a months-long government-imposed internet blackout – all taking place at the height of widespread anti-regime protests and alleged mass executions by the Islamic Republic.
Commenting to state-backed Fars News Agency on Monday, Iranian Cyber Chief Mohammad-Amin Aghamiri claimed the Islamic Republic was “the first country to successfully and deliberately shut down Starlink operations during the timeframe it required.”
It's the first time any Iranian leader has made such a claim – with the timeline referring to the massive and bloody citizen uprising that spread to over 200 cities across the Islamic nation beginning on December 28th, 2024.
Iran admits disrupting Starlink during blackout
By January 8th, in an attempt to control the protesters, Tehran implemented a nationwide digital blackout impacting over 90 million Iranians.
Monday’s statements reveal that the imposed blackout included the IRGC’s cyber arm successfully disrupting Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite service – which, at the time, less than 1% of the population were reportedly still able to use to counter the shutdowns.
Iran managed to disable Starlink terminals for the first time,Aghamiri told the state agency, according to a report by IranWire.
#Internet traffc in #Iran has dropped to effectively zero as of 18:45 UTC (22:15 PM local time), signaling a complete shutdown in the country, and disconnection from the global Internet. https://t.co/V77cj6rrQW https://t.co/yZjOBqsGJm
undefined Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) January 8, 2026
The cyberspace head did not say when, how, or what technologies the Iranian government used to sabotage the SpaceX-operated service.
At the time, experts suspected the Iranian government was behind jamming the Starlink signals to prevent citizens from accessing the internet.
“Starlink, which beams its service directly from thousands of low-earth orbit satellites, is still working in some places in Iran, despite being banned by authorities,” Reuters reported on January 13th.
Iranians can be thrown in prison if they are caught with one of the physical Starlink terminals – needed to connect to the low-earth satellites.
The Starlink service has been repeatedly used in Ukraine by both citizens and the Ukrainian military to guarantee steady internet access during the war with Russia, which has also repeatedly tried to sabotage the satellite service by jamming its signals.
Iran threatens Starlink as a "military target"
Aghamiri – official title: Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of the Islamic Republic – also told Fars on Monday that,
"If this platform is used as a tool of warfare, it can be considered a legitimate military target in the future."
This could mean the IRGC is developing, or even perfecting, tools and tactics to disrupt the Musk-owned service in future conflicts.
Iranian authorities reported over 3,000 citizen deaths during the January 8-9 crackdown, directly blaming the US and Israel for orchestrating “terrorist acts,” while most NGOs in the region say it was Iranian forces killing their own people.
Another Tehran photo, from before the blackout.
undefined Mark Chadbourn (@chadbourn.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 4:41 PM
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Only the beginning of a series of accusations against the regime, it is estimated that anywhere from 20,000 to more than 36,500 Iranians were killed during the nationwide unrest.
Further blackouts – lasting a full 88 days – were imposed by the regime following the US-Israeli strikes at the end of February and are said to be the longest digital communication blackout recorded in world history.
Iran to Norway: Stop using Starlink in our country
Separately on Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry called on Norway’s ambassador to protest Oslo’s alleged “inaction” over the unauthorized use of Starlink inside Iran.
The ministry says Norway is failing "to respond to Iran's requests for effective and urgent measures to stop the activities of the Starlink system, which violate Iran's sovereignty and national security."
Tehran believes the satellite service is being used for "espionage," "sabotage," "terrorism," and "subversion" activities.
