US President Donald Trump says he will speak with Elon Musk about getting Starlink internet into Iran, where the regime has kept the country in a near-total communications blackout for five days straight.
'We may get the internet going if that's possible,' Trump told journalists on Sunday in remarks posted by Fox News on X. '[Elon] is very good at that kind of thing. I'm going to call him as soon as I'm finished with you.'
The move comes as anti-government protests rage across Iran's 31 provinces. Internet monitors say this is the worst shutdown the country has ever seen.
Regime Using Blackout To Hide Crackdown
Experts say Iran pulled the plug to stop the world from seeing what security forces are doing to protesters.
NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker called it 'Iran's war against its own population using digital means', according to Fox News. He said authorities 'pulled the plug' because 'the regime is scared'.
The shutdown started piecemeal on Thursday evening before expanding across the entire country. Internet connectivity has dropped to a fraction of normal levels.
At least 78 people have been killed and more than 2,600 arrested since protests began, and the demonstrations have now spread to 180 cities.
Some Iranians Bypassing Ban With Starlink
A small number of Iranians who smuggled in Starlink terminals are still getting through. But even that's becoming harder.
Reports quoted Cybersecurity expert Amir Rashidi as saying Tehran is now jamming Starlink signals. Some areas are seeing an 80% loss in data packets. 'I believe the Iranian government is doing something beyond GPS jamming, like in Ukraine, where Russia tried to jam Starlink,' he said.
Ali Tehrani from Psiphon, an anti-censorship tool, confirmed to Iran International: 'This is the worst internet shutdown in Iran's history. Even Starlink uploads have been affected.'
Toker also said that some people near the borders are managing to use mobile service from neighbouring countries. But options are running out fast.
'National blackouts tend to be the regime's go-to strategy when deadly force is about to get used against protesters,' he said in the Fox News report.
Economic Crisis Sparked The Protests
The demonstrations started in December over Iran's collapsing economy and the rial's freefall. Shopkeepers in Tehran's Grand Bazaar went on strike first. It's snowballed from there.
What began as anger over money troubles quickly turned into something bigger. Protesters are now calling for an end to the Islamic Republic itself.
One 47-year-old Tehran resident told CNN the blackout isn't working as planned. 'The internet shutdown appears to have backfired, as boredom and frustration drove even more people into the streets,' he said anonymously.
Trump Warns Iran Against Violence
The US President who judges arrogantly about the whole world should know that tyrants & arrogant rulers of the world, such as Pharaoh, Nimrod, Mohammad Reza [Pahlavi] & other such rulers saw their downfall when they were at the peak of their hubris. He too will fall.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 9, 2026
The US president issued a stark warning to Tehran on Friday.
'I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that's a very dangerous place right now,' Trump told reporters at the White House. 'You'd better not start shooting, because we'll start shooting, too.'
Getting Starlink into Iran fits with US policy on easing tech sanctions for internet freedom. But terminals are banned in the country, so anyone using them has smuggled them in.
Meanwhile, Iran's leadership is digging in. Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, called for 'decisive action' against 'rioters'. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed foreign powers for the unrest.
The blackout has crippled daily life. Hospitals, pharmacies, banks, and businesses can barely function. Yet Khamenei keeps posting on X, where he's called protesters 'a bunch of people bent on destruction'.
Doug Madory from Kentik explained how that works: 'Iran is technically connected to the internet, even if no one can communicate there. They've kind of just turned it off, even though they're connected.'
