Musk: Starlink will lobby for exemption to operate in Iran amidst sanctions
Starlink will lobby for an exemption to operate in Iran despite the current sanctions, according to the network’s owner Elon Musk.
He didn’t specify on Monday night who or which legal authority he planned to lobby to.
The comments came night after he tweeted that the service was now active on “all continents, including Antarctica.”
The serial entrepreneur and world’s wealthiest man was then asked by a journalist from the newspaper Deutsche Welle (DW) Persian if he would bring the service to Iran.
Musk replied: “Starlink will ask for an exemption to Iranian sanctions in this regard.”
The announcement was welcomed by Iranian journalists who said Starlink could open the country up.
Iran – where access to the internet is curtailed as the government seeks to control dissent – is currently rocked by a series of protests following the killing of a 22-year-old woman in police custody.
Former BBC World Service presenter Sima Sabet called the move “a new horizon of freedom,” while Saman Rasoulpour, current affairs editor at Iranian television broadcaster Iran International, asked about when Starlink will operate.
“[The] Islamic Republic is killing protesters on streets, there is a high possibility that they block access to the internet any moment to prevent news of massacre being disseminated as they did before,” he told Musk.
“It’s a matter of urgency for Iranians, when do you think we might hear about this?”
Sanctions on Iran were imposed by multiple governments as a result of Tehran’s nuclear programme.
They were initially eased in 2015 during Barack Obama’s presidency but were reimposed in 2018 by Donal Trump.