US smuggled Starlinks into Iran amid riots – WSJ

President Donald Trump urged protesters to “take over institutions” at the height of the unrest

The administration of US President Donald Trump covertly smuggled around 6,000 Starlink satellite internet terminals into Iran amid nationwide unrest earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reports, substantiating Tehran’s claims of foreign interference behind the deadly riots.

The operation, which senior US officials said involved State Department funding, came after the Iranian authorities imposed a sweeping internet blackout in January. Trump was aware of the deliveries, officials told the WSJ on Thursday, though it remains unclear whether he personally approved the plan.

Iranian officials accused Washington and Tel Aviv of fueling the unrest, which began in December as peaceful demonstrations over economic hardship but escalated into widespread violence. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated last month that more than 3,000 people were killed, including nearly 700 individuals he described as “terrorists,” alongside civilians and security personnel.

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President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the US and Israel of embedding “foreign terrorists” within protest crowds, alleging that they used what an Iranian diplomatic source described to RT as “ISIS-like” tactics – including beheadings of law enforcement officers and civilians being burned alive.

At the height of the unrest, Trump openly encouraged the “peaceful” Iranian protesters, posting on Truth Social: “All Iranian patriots, keep protesting. Take over your institutions if possible.”

He also promised that “help is on its way,” and deployed a “beautiful armada” to the region, raising speculation of an imminent military intervention.

The State Department supports a range of so-called “internet freedom” tools, including virtual private network service providers to Iran. To purchase Starlinks, the department reportedly redirected funds from US-supported VPNs, which allowed an estimated 20-30 million Iranians to stay online during the previous 2022 riots and the Israeli-US bombing last year.

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Washington seeks to pressure Iran into accepting a new nuclear deal, after Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 agreement (JCPOA) during his first term, reimposing sanctions on Iran under the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign. The decades of US economic pressure was the primary driver of the country’s economic deterioration, according to officials in Iran – the world’s second most sanctioned country after Russia.

Despite the Trump administration’s public denials of involvement in fomenting anti-government riots, the reported Starlink operation reveals expanded covert support for what Moscow called an attempt to “destroy the Iranian state” through a color revolution playbook.