Starlink offers free internet service in Iran, with other communications cut in protest crackdown
Published: 14 Jan. 2026, 14:43
![This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9, as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/14/67a2ecf9-d6d6-40db-8e35-ea509f601f17.jpg)
This frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9, as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world. [AP/YONHAP]
The satellite internet provider Starlink now offers free service in Iran, activists said on Wednesday.
Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the units into Iran, told The Associated Press (AP) that the free service had started. Other activists also confirmed in messages online that the service was free.
“We can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,” Yahyanejad said in a statement. “We tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.”
Starlink has been the only way for Iranians to communicate with the outside world since authorities shut down the internet on Thursday night as nationwide protests swelled and a bloody crackdown against demonstrators began.
Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.
The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has surpassed 2,500, activists said, as Iranians made phone calls abroad for the first time in days on Tuesday after authorities severed communications during a crackdown on demonstrators.
The number of dead climbed to at least 2,571 early on Wednesday, as reported by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
![A placard is placed on bricks — reading, ″Long live the Shah,″ in Farsi and referring to the Pahlavi dynasty, which was toppled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution — during an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/14/ddb2e66d-178b-4855-8505-f43eae5ccee6.jpg)
A placard is placed on bricks — reading, ″Long live the Shah,″ in Farsi and referring to the Pahlavi dynasty, which was toppled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution — during an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9. [AP/YONHAP]
Iranian state television offered the first official acknowledgment of the deaths, quoting an official saying the country had “a lot of martyrs” and that it did not release a toll earlier because of the dead suffering gruesome injuries. However, that statement came only after activists reported their toll.
The demonstrations began a little over two weeks ago in anger over Iran’s ailing economy and soon targeted the theocracy, particularly 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Images obtained on Tuesday by the AP from demonstrations in Tehran showed graffiti and chants calling for Khamenei's death — an act that could carry a death sentence.
Soon after the new death toll became public, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!”
He added, “I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
![In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/14/cad95c19-7c4e-4c26-9a14-f11a63212eb5.jpg)
In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8. [AP/YONHAP]
However, hours later, Trump told reporters that his administration was awaiting an accurate report on the number of protesters that had been killed before acting “accordingly.”
Trump said about the Iranian security forces, “It would seem to me that they have been badly misbehaving, but that is not confirmed.”
Iranian officials once again warned Trump against taking action, with Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, responding to U.S. posturing by writing, “We declare the names of the main killers of the people of Iran: [No.] 1 [is] Trump, [and No.] 2 [is] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The activist group said 2,403 of the dead were protesters and 147 were government-affiliated. Twelve children were killed, along with nine civilians it said were not taking part in protests. More than 18,100 people have been detained, the group said.
With the internet down in Iran, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The AP has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran's government has not offered overall casualty figures.
![In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/14/80893eb9-0fa7-4574-a39a-87065c99a9c1.jpg)
In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8. [AP/YONHAP]
Skylar Thompson with the Human Rights Activists News Agency told the AP the new toll was shocking, particularly since it reached four times the death toll of the monthslong 2022 Mahsa Amini protests in just two weeks.
She warned that the toll would likely rise: “We’re horrified, but we still think the number is conservative.”
Speaking by phone for the first time since their calls were cut off from the outside world, Iranian witnesses described a heavy security presence in central Tehran, burned-out government buildings, smashed ATMs and few passersby. Meanwhile, people were concerned about what comes next, including the possibility of a U.S. attack.
“My customers talk about Trump’s reaction and wonder if he plans a military strike against the Islamic Republic,” said shopkeeper Mahmoud, who gave only his first name out of concern for his safety. “I don’t expect that Trump or any other foreign country cares about the interests of Iranians.”
Reza, a taxi driver who also gave just his first name, said protests are on many people's minds. “People, particularly young ones, are hopeless, but they talk about continuing the protests,” he said.
![In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/14/94d58719-5b4a-4cfc-b20d-1e467a7db164.jpg)
In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an antigovernment protest in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9. [AP/YONHAP]
Several people in Tehran were able to call the AP on Tuesday and speak to a journalist. The AP bureau in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was unable to call those numbers back. Witnesses said text messaging was still down, and internet users in Iran could connect to government-approved websites locally but nothing abroad.
Antiriot police officers wore helmets and body armor while carrying batons, shields, shotguns and tear gas launchers, according to witnesses. Police stood watch at major intersections. Nearby, witnesses saw the Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij force members, who carried firearms and batons. Security officials in plainclothes were visible in public spaces.
Several banks and government offices were burned during the unrest, witnesses said. Banks struggled to complete transactions without the internet, they added.
Shops were open, though there was little foot traffic in the capital. Tehran's Grand Bazaar, where the demonstrations began on Dec. 28, 2025, over the collapse of Iran's rial currency, opened on Tuesday. A witness described speaking to multiple shopkeepers who said security forces ordered them to reopen no matter what. Iranian state media did not acknowledge that order.
The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
It also appeared that security service personnel were searching for Starlink terminals, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.
On the streets, people could also be seen challenging plainclothes security officials, who were stopping passersby at random.
State television also read a statement about mortuary and morgue services being free — a signal that some likely charged high fees for the release of bodies amid the crackdown.
Khamenei, in a statement carried by state TV, praised the tens of thousands who took part in pro-government demonstrations nationwide on Monday.
“This was a warning to American politicians to stop their deceit and not rely on traitorous mercenaries,” he said. “The Iranian nation is strong and powerful and aware of the enemy.”
State TV on Monday aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands. They chanted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Others cried out, “Death to the enemies of God!” Iran’s attorney general has warned that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge.
AP
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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