The Trump administration smuggled thousands of Starlink internet terminals into Iran following the Islamic regime’s deadly crackdown on protesters in January, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
After Iranian security forces killed thousands of protesters and shut off large swaths of the internet, the U.S. reportedly smuggled about 6,000 of Elon Musk’s satellite-internet kits into the country, the outlet reported Thursday. This marked the first known direct delivery of Starlink systems to Iran.
Washington and Tehran remain engaged in high-stakes negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. seeks to eliminate any path for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, while Iran insists enrichment is necessary for civilian purposes. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that failed negotiations could trigger a military strike using a carrier strike group and air assets already in the region.
Officials told the outlet that the State Department had purchased nearly 7,000 Starlink terminals in the months leading up to the crackdown. The purchases were intended to help anti-regime activists bypass Tehran’s strict internet controls.
Senior Trump administration officials decided to redirect funds from other internet-freedom programs in Iran to finance the Starlink shipments, according to the outlet.
Owning a Starlink terminal is illegal in Iran and punishable by years in prison, but tens of thousands of Iranians have managed to acquire them to communicate outside government surveillance, according to WSJ. Iranian authorities reportedly search homes and rooftops for Starlink devices.
Mass protests erupted in December, initially over Iran’s collapsing economy and surging inflation. The demonstrations later expanded into widespread anti-regime protests, with support from exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last Shah of Iran, toppled during the 1979 revolution.
Estimates of the death toll from the crackdown vary, but two senior officials from Iran’s Ministry of Health told Time magazine that the government’s internal tally reached roughly 30,000 on Jan. 8 and 9 alone.
Iran has repeatedly accused the U.S. and Israel of instigating the unrest.
As protests swept the country, Trump told demonstrators that “help is on its way,” adding “KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
Trump has also warned Tehran that a military response “far worse” than the June 2025 strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities could follow if negotiations failed.
Following a private meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Trump said that “nothing definitive was reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.”
“If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — That did not work well for them,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Neither the White House nor the State Department immediately responded to Daily Caller News Foundation requests for comment.
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