I suspect the Internet blackout in Iran is not actually related to its citizens - it isn't about silencing its citizens.
It is to prevent hacking and tracking by US and Israel of what is going on over there, it is defensive since it has been shown that Iran's connected infrastructure is thoroughly compromised.
I learned from a BSides presentation that Ukranian military are using Starlink trancievers placed in pits to beat ground-based signal detection. Do with that what you will.
There's two kind of separate problems, a ground based force with >10GHz band portable spectrum analyzers and the training to use them to locate the terminal emissions, or just somebody with very low-cost/free android wifi analyzer app or a $200 handheld <6GHz spectrum analyzer to locate 802.11ac/ax WAPs (nevermind if the SSID is broadcast or not).
google image search "iran confiscates satellite dishes" for some example photos from their domestic media.
There's also the problem of just physically identifying starlink terminals on roofs. Iran has gone on sprees of confiscating ku band TVRO satellite dishes for a long time.
It's entirely possible to use a starlink terminal with exclusively wired ethernet stuff, including usb-c to gigabit ethernet adapters plugged into android phones, it just takes some training and discipline for the ordinary non technical user.
Netblocks has been doing some very good work tracking the presence or absence of known IP blocks previously announced by Iranian ASNs. The charts really speak for themselves.
For those who don't keep track of backbone ISP topologies: Iran has 3 or 4 major entirely government controlled ASNs which all domestic ISPs are obligated to be downstream of.
The government controlled AS run all the international transit connections (at the BGP level) and also the physical fiber/longhaul DWDM systems into a few neighboring countries. It makes it very easy to cut off all the downstream domestic only ISPs.
US military "tested" some of its new weapons during the last war on Iran, in one case killing more than 15 kids [1]. So US tech is famous for improving life quality in Iran.
Related story - in February 2026, the baggage of a Dutch diplomat was confiscated. It contained three Starlink satellite modems and seven satellite phones, concealed inside a suitcase.
After having supported activists in egypt during the arab spring I've come to learn that it's all just coopted regime change nonsense sprinkled with "feel good activism" for Westerners. No one in Egypt is even remotely better off now. Just let Iranians deal with this on their own. From what I've researched, our impression of what their lives are supposedly like is totally shaped by intelligence services and cointelpro media anyways so why bother to get involved. We'll only make things worse for the average Iranian.
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 45.1 ms ] threadIt is to prevent hacking and tracking by US and Israel of what is going on over there, it is defensive since it has been shown that Iran's connected infrastructure is thoroughly compromised.
google image search "iran confiscates satellite dishes" for some example photos from their domestic media.
https://www.google.com/search?num=10&q=iran+confiscates+sate...
There's also the problem of just physically identifying starlink terminals on roofs. Iran has gone on sprees of confiscating ku band TVRO satellite dishes for a long time.
It's entirely possible to use a starlink terminal with exclusively wired ethernet stuff, including usb-c to gigabit ethernet adapters plugged into android phones, it just takes some training and discipline for the ordinary non technical user.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/permanent-ban-ipv6-forced-nat...
For those who don't keep track of backbone ISP topologies: Iran has 3 or 4 major entirely government controlled ASNs which all domestic ISPs are obligated to be downstream of.
The government controlled AS run all the international transit connections (at the BGP level) and also the physical fiber/longhaul DWDM systems into a few neighboring countries. It makes it very easy to cut off all the downstream domestic only ISPs.
https://netblocks.org/
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/world/middleeast/us-preci...
https://karat.substack.com/p/a-diplomatic-suitcase-at-imam-k...