Musk: Starlink to Seek Exemption from Iran Sanctions

Facts

• SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter on Monday that his company will seek an exemption from sanctions on Iran to provide the firm's Starlink satellite broadband service to the country.
• His Tweet was in response to Iranian-born science journalist Erfan Kasraie, who said that bringing the service to Iran could be a "real game changer for the future" of the country.
• Musk's comment comes as protests have erupted in Iran's Kurdistan region regarding the death of a Kurdish-Iranian woman in police custody last week, which led to a telecommunication blackout in parts of the province.
• Iran's government has the ability to limit or outright deny telecommunications access across the country at will, and access to social media and some content is tightly restricted.
• Starlink, which was launched at the end of 2020, offers high-speed broadband service to customers in areas poorly served by fixed and mobile terrestrial networks through a constellation of satellites in low earth orbit. The service received notoriety after supplying antennas and modems to the Ukrainian military following the recent onset of hostilities with Russia.
• Iran's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, its foreign ministry, its mission to the UN, and the US Bureau of Industry and Security didn't immediately respond regarding Starlink and a possible sanction exemption.

Sources: Reuters, France24, FOX News, and Business Today.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Times Of Israel. Starlink would be a great step toward ensuring the Iranian people have access to the outside world when the regime in Tehran seeks to silence them. The recent protests against the regime and the subsequent denial of telecommunication access are prime examples of why Starlink could be so useful in the fight against autocracy and dictatorship.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by MintPress. Musk's Starlink is simply another vehicle of US and Western imperialism in the Global South. Indeed, Musk is intimately connected to the US's national security state, serving as one of its most important business partners. Starlink's services have even reportedly been provided to Neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine, all because the Pentagon wanted them to have such technology.