Elon Muskâs Starlink satellite internet service is offering free access in Iran, where a communication blackout was imposed amid demonstrations since last week.
âWe can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,â Mehdi Yahyanejad Yahyanejad, a US-based activist told the Associated Press news agency. âWe tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.â
Activists say subscription fees have been waived as of Tuesday.
Iranâs government cut off the internet and had restricted phone access since January 8 though some international phone services have been restored.
Starlink has reportedly been the main channel for Iranians to share news, photos, and videos with the outside world amid the protests. In response, authorities have tried to jam Starlinkâs signal and confiscate Starlink dishes.
WATCH: Trump seems âvery determined to actâ
Mark Kimmitt, former assistant secretary for political and military affairs at the US State Department, said that the US President âseems to be very determined to actâ in relation to Iran.
But, Kimmitt said, the US is unlikely to be planning a ground attack.
âI think there might be operations against security force leaders such as the head of the [paramilitary] Basij force and the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, very similar to what we did to Soleimani in 2020,â Kimmitt told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.
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More from Iranâs UN envoy
Amir Saeid Iravani called on the UN secretary-general, the UN Security Council (UNSC) and all UN member states to respond to Trumpâs escalating rhetoric towards Iran.
He said that the secretary-general and the UNSC, âin particularâ, had responsibilities under the UN Charter to âunequivocallyâ condemn âall forms of incitement to violence, threats to use force, and interference in Iranâs internal affairs by the United Statesâ.
Iravani asked the UN to âurge the US and the Israeli regime to immediately cease destabilising policies and practices and to comply fully with their obligations under international lawâ, as well as to warn the US against any possible âacts of military aggressionâ.
He also called on all member states to refrain from âprovocative and irresponsible statements or actionsâ.
Iranâs UN envoy says Trumpâs rhetoric part of âbroader regime-change policyâ
Iranâs UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, has penned a letter to the UN Security Council expressing concern over Trumpâs âinterventionist rhetoricâ towards his country.
Iravani told members of the council that a social media post from the US president calling on protesters to take over Iranian institutions âexplicitly encourages political destabilisation, incites and invites violence, and threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iranâ.
âThe statement explicitly made today by the President of the United States, calling for the âtaking over of institutions,â must be understood in the context of the failure of the 12-day war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2025, and as an integral component of a broader regime-change policy,â Iravani said.
âThe United States and the Israeli regime bear direct and undeniable legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth,â he said.