Filtering Is Driving Iranians to Satellite Internet, Iran’s ICT Minister Warns

Iran's minister of information and communications technology has acknowledged that the country's internet traffic shifted toward foreign satellite networks during the recent war with USA and Israel, and warned that continued filtering - Iran's system of state-ordered website and app blocking - could make that shift permanent.

Sattar Hashemi, whose ministry regulates Iran's telecommunications, said that if reliance on satellite constellations became irreversible, the state would effectively lose part of its control over the internet.

The comments are a rare official admission that censorship is pushing Iranian users toward networks the government cannot block. Low-Earth-orbit constellations such as Starlink, operated by SpaceX, link user terminals directly to satellites, bypassing the national infrastructure that Tehran throttles or filters. Similar services have weakened state communication controls in conflicts elsewhere, from Ukraine to Sudan.

Traffic moved to satellite during the war

Hashemi said the change was visible in real time during the war.

During the war we saw it firsthand, day after day - the country's traffic was moving toward the use of satellite constellations.

During that war, Iran shut down most international connectivity for days, a step the government said was meant to counter cyberattacks. Starlink terminals smuggled into the country were used to get online despite the blackout, though the service is not licensed in Iran. Hashemi referred only to satellite constellations and did not name an operator.

"The worst situation imaginable"

Hashemi said the Ministry of ICT is not the sole authority over online policy. It holds a seat on the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, the state body that sets internet rules above the ministry, where he said it has submitted its expert assessment of filtering. Within the council, he said, "everyone acknowledges there is no good in the current situation," which he called "the worst situation imaginable."

On that basis, Hashemi described closing "the filtering file" as a condition for stronger governance of cyberspace. He pointed to a 32-article document and to measures such as easing access to international platforms and improving connection quality, which he said could not be treated separately. If Iran wants to raise internet quality and its standing in fields such as innovation and artificial intelligence, he said, reducing access restrictions is unavoidable.