Trump Secretly Sent Starlink Terminals to Iran – WSJ

The Trump administration secretly sent thousands of Starlink satellite internet terminals to Iran amid violent crackdowns on protests and widespread internet outages. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Nearly 6,000 terminals were smuggled into the country after Iranian authorities suppressed unrest in January, killing thousands of demonstrators and limiting internet access. This marks the first instance of Washington directly sending Starlink equipment to Iran, as stated in the report.

Officials noted that the State Department had purchased around 7,000 terminals in previous months, with most acquired in January to help anti-government activists circumvent internet shutdowns. Some funding for these purchases came from other internet freedom programs.

According to officials, Trump was aware of the shipments, although it remains unclear whether he or another official directly authorized the operation.