About 100 Starlink Internet Terminals Operating in Iran, Musk Says

Around 100 Starlink internet terminals are in operation in Iran, Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company provides the service, said in a tweet. Starlink offers internet access to Iranians enduring government crackdowns on the already restricted online service due to the nationwide protests more than three months after they were triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody. Musk had pledged in September to provide the satellites and terminals after the US gave SpaceX an exemption from sanctions against Iran, as part of what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a move to “advance Internet freedom and the free flow of information for the Iranian people.” Since the start of antigovernment protests in Iran more than 100 days ago, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police, Iranian officials restricted access to Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as on apps including the Google Play Store, and on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that allow access to internet sites outside of the country. Musk earlier this year sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine to enable the people under assault by Russia to send and receive news and communicate with each other.