Iran has warned against the military use of Starlink, saying it has developed domestic technology capable of countering cyber threats linked to the satellite internet service.
“Starlink is engaging in military behaviour beyond a commercial enterprise, and the attempt to smuggle its equipment into the country indicates the enemy's greed for harming the cyberspace, which must be managed with vigilance,” said Mohammad-Amin Aghamiri, secretary of Iran's Supreme Cyberspace Council and director of the National Cyberspace Centre.
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Aghamiri said Iran had successfully disabled a Starlink terminal during unrest in January, using “only one out of our many local technologies”.
“We are ready to share our experience with the friendly countries which are concerned over violation of their national sovereignty,” he added.
Aghamiri said Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology had lodged multiple complaints with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) against SpaceX and Norway over Starlink's operations.
“Both Norway and SpaceX have neglected the ITU resolutions issued in favour of Iran while acknowledging use of its satellites for command, control and spying during the Israeli-US war against Iran.”
In June 2025, Space Norway, a leading Northern European satellite operator, announced an agreement with Starlink, operated by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), to provide low Earth orbit satellite connectivity services with immediate effect.
Iran's Foreign Ministry also summoned Norway's ambassador, Paal Bjørnestad, to lodge a formal protest over Starlink's activities.
In a statement last week, the ministry accused Oslo of failing to act against what Tehran described as unauthorised Starlink operations inside Iranian territory.
“The Norwegian government is obligated to adopt necessary measures to prevent unauthorised transmissions by Starlink within Iranian territory,” the statement said.
“Despite repeated official follow-ups by Iran, Oslo has failed to take any effective action.”
Aghamiri said Iran was facing what he described as a hybrid war involving conventional military operations, economic pressure and cyberattacks.
He claimed that waves of cyberattacks had preceded military operations but were successfully repelled using domestically developed technology.
“We are seriously developing the National Information Network to guarantee civilian access and services in the event of major threats and international outage.”
Aghamiri also said Iran's information and communications technology infrastructure had continued to support essential civilian services, including banking and education, despite disruptions linked to security threats.
“Iran’s ICT ecosystem kept providing civilian services including in banking and education in the event of outages due to major security threats during two military attacks in 2025 and 2026 as well as the January 2026 coup,” he said, referring to unrest earlier this year.
Asked about the role of communications technology in armed conflicts, Aghamiri argued that civilian systems could become military assets depending on how they were used.
“Any tool or technology that is used on the battlefield is practically considered a military tool.”
“Whether a company decides to put its tool in the service of peace and human communication or to turn it into a tool of war depends on the approach of that company.”
When asked whether Iran would consider Starlink a “legitimate target” because of its alleged military use against the country, Aghamiri stopped short of giving a direct answer.
“Our policy in dealing with these cases is based on a careful analysis of its functionality in the field.”
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