The Iranian regime under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is brutally cracking down as protests rage on for the 18th day, with reports suggesting that over 500 people have been killed. On the 12th day, when Khamenei's government imposed a near-total internet blackout, American tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink emerged as a rare hope. Iran, a country of nearly 80 million people, was plunged into digital darkness. In response, protesters swiftly shifted to a Plan B, Starlink, to send out images and videos to the outside world. But that lifeline, too, has now reportedly been snapped by the Khamenei regime.
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Around 30% of Starlink's uplink and downlink traffic was initially disrupted. The outage has now escalated to over 80%, according to the Iran Wire.
According to experts, the Iranian clerical leadership activated a "kill switch" to jam Starlink satellites. The disruption, they say, was carried out using highly expensive military-grade jamming equipment which, if not indigenous, was likely supplied by Russia or China.
The reports of internet outages in Iran coincided with US President Donald Trump saying on Sunday (US time) that he planned to speak to Musk about restoring internet access in Iran. Trump has repeatedly threatened the Khamenei regime of possible "actions", and the US was reportedly weighing military action in Iran, according to reports.
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