Iran claims it knocked Starlink offline, warns satellites are now military targets
Iran says it has “more tools” to disrupt Starlink – and warns the satellite network could now be considered a “legitimate” wartime target.
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- Iran claims it deliberately 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 also claimed Starlink is used for “espionage," renewing a diplomatic clash with Norway.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Iranian leaders on Monday claim responsibility for causing a January Starlink outage amid a weeks-long government-imposed internet blackout – all taking place at the height of widespread anti-regime protests and suspected 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, 2025.
Iran admits disrupting Starlink during blackout
By January 8th, 2026, 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 also saw the IRGC’s cyber arm successfully disrupt Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, which, back then, reports showed less than 1% of the population was still using to counter the shutdowns.
#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
Iran managed to disable Starlink terminals for the first time,Aghamiri told the state agency, according to a report by IranWire.
The cyberspace chief did not say when, how, or what technologies the Iranian government had used to sabotage the SpaceX-operated service.
At the time, experts suspected the Iranian government was behind the jamming of 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.
An estimated 50,000 Starlink terminals are said to be actively operating across Iran, with its citizens at risk of being jailed if they are caught with one of the physical devices needed to connect to those low-earth satellites.
Meanwhile, 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 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 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – including its state-sponsored hacker groups – is developing, or even perfecting, tools and tactics to disrupt the Musk-owned service in military operations.
Iranian authorities reported over 3,000 citizen deaths during the January 8th-9th 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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Those deaths were 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, launched as part of Operation Epic Fury, 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 what is calls the unauthorized use of Starlink inside Iran.
Norway serves as the “notifying administration” for Starlink with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the UN body responsible for international coordination of telecommunications and communications technology, which includes satellites.
This means that even though SpaceX operates the network, Oslo is responsible for overseeing its compliance with ITU regulations.
Iran has been pressing Norway to disconnect Starlink services operating inside the country since March 2023.
The ministry argues that 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 says the satellite service is being used for "espionage," "sabotage," "terrorism," and "subversion" activities.
