Trump-Era Push Used Starlink to Aid Iran Protests
In recent revelations that shed light on covert diplomatic efforts during the latter part of the Trump administration, a report by The Daily Wire, titled “How Trump Secretly Boosted Protests In Iran With Starlink,” uncovers a behind-the-scenes maneuver in which U.S. officials discreetly facilitated internet access for Iranian protesters using American satellite technology.
According to the report, as anti-regime demonstrations spread across Iran in the fall of 2022, former officials involved in the final weeks of the Trump presidency revealed that groundwork for aiding Iranian dissent had been laid months earlier. While much of this support remained undisclosed at the time, the Daily Wire investigation details a quiet but strategically significant push by key figures in the Trump administration to enable Iranian citizens to circumvent government-imposed internet restrictions through use of Starlink, the satellite internet system developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The revelation offers a rare glimpse into how foreign policy and emerging private-sector technologies intersected to assist civil society in one of the world’s most tightly controlled information environments. According to sources cited in the report, Trump-era officials—working both within government channels and privately after leaving office—sought to make satellite communications a viable option for Iranians facing digital crackdowns from Tehran. This included not only diplomatic engagement with SpaceX, but also navigating legal and bureaucratic barriers, such as obtaining waivers from the U.S. Treasury Department to ensure compliance with sanctions laws.
One of the key players in these efforts, as reported by The Daily Wire, was former senior national security official Richard Goldberg, who is now a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Goldberg and others reportedly continued to advocate for internet access in Iran beyond the end of the Trump presidency, pressing the incoming Biden administration to sustain the policy momentum.
The policy move gained new dimensions in 2022, when protests erupted across Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by the country’s morality police. In response to the unrest, the Iranian government implemented widespread internet blackouts, which significantly hampered protesters’ ability to communicate and organize. It was in that context that U.S. officials—both current and former—renewed focus on enabling decentralized internet access, culminating in SpaceX’s provision of satellite service to parts of Iran.
In September 2022, Elon Musk publicly stated that he would activate Starlink for Iranians, drawing global attention to the use of space-based internet as a tool of resistance. According to The Daily Wire’s report, this public step built directly on months of quiet planning that began under Trump, underscoring the continuity of certain foreign policy objectives across administrations, even those that have been politically at odds.
While the broader strategic objective—undermining Tehran’s control over digital communication—remains controversial in international circles, the reported initiative reflects a growing trend in modern foreign policy: leveraging commercial technology to advance humanitarian and geopolitical aims. The involvement of private industry in such efforts, particularly one led by a high-profile entrepreneur like Musk, also highlights changing paradigms in statecraft, where public-private partnerships increasingly play key roles in shaping the political landscapes of authoritarian regimes.
As the report by The Daily Wire suggests, the Trump administration’s quiet role in enabling Iranian access to uncensored internet through Starlink marks another chapter in the evolving narrative of U.S. engagement with Iran, one shaped not just by sanctions and diplomacy, but by technology and innovation as tools of soft power.
