Iran Says It Has Developed a Weapon Capable of Disrupting Starlink
Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Cyberspace Council and National Cyberspace Centre, announced that his country had “developed and tested” domestic systems capable of detecting Starlink ground terminals and disrupting their communications with satellites.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Aghamiri said the technical interventions had caused “widespread network disruptions”.
He explained that communications between Starlink ground terminals and satellites rely on advanced technology. Its complexity, however, does not make it immune to control or technical countermeasures, he argued, adding that it could be addressed like other technologies used worldwide.
He said Iran had designed and tested domestic systems to locate terminals and sever communications between ground equipment and satellites as part of efforts to develop its technical capabilities for dealing with the network.
According to the Iranian official, international reports described a substantial decline in data transfer efficiency resulting from the interventions.
He said packet loss rates had reached 80%, which he argued demonstrated that the network’s performance could be affected and controlled through technical measures targeting ground and satellite communications.
Aghamiri also announced Iran’s readiness to share its expertise and domestically developed technologies with countries he described as aligned with it. He added that Iran’s Communications Ministry was pursuing legal and technical initiatives within the International Telecommunication Union on the issue.
The official did not specify the systems used or provide independent technical details establishing the extent of their impact. His remarks were also not accompanied by detailed data allowing independent verification of the reported packet loss rate.
Starlink, operated by the US company SpaceX, provides satellite internet access through ground terminals communicating with a network of satellites in low Earth orbit.
