Confirmed: US Covertly Sent Thousands Of Starlink Terminals Into Iran Amid Unrest

The Trump administration has confirmed what was already long suspected -the US sent Iranian protesters thousands of Starlink terminals amid last month’s raging economic protests and unrest.

The mainstream media had claimed the whole time that the demonstrations were both purely peaceful and completely spontaneous, but a Thursday Wall Street Journal piece greatly muddies this MSM narrative.

Source: Getty Images

“After Iranian authorities smothered mounting unrest in January by killing thousands of protesters and severely cutting internet connectivity, the U.S. smuggled roughly 6,000 of the satellite-internet kits into the country, the first time the U.S. has directly sent Starlink into Iran,” WSJ writes.

This also contradicts earlier claims from weeks ago that it was merely activist non-profit NGO groups which got a small amount of Starlink systems to protesters. That was perhaps the ‘cover’ narrative. But later it became evident the SpaceX-made comms equipment was more ubiquitous.

Skeptical observers questioned how that amount of sophisticated equipment could so easily get across Iran’s borders at a moment security forces were on a high state of alert. They concluded, reasonably, that it must have had the involvement of Western intelligence services.

“The State Department had purchased nearly 7,000 Starlink terminals in earlier months—with most bought in January—to help antiregime activists circumvent internet shut-offs in Iran, officials said.” https://t.co/1Hmx3QNQCR

— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) February 12, 2026

WSJ tries to tiptoe around the obvious contradictions:

President Trump was aware of the deliveries, officials said, but they didn’t know if he or someone else directly approved of the plan.

Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington, without evidence, of playing a role in fomenting popular dissent and organizing last month’s nationwide demonstrations in the country of 90 million people. Iranians were protesting years of economic mismanagement, a weakening currency and hard-line rule.

The U.S. has denied any connection to the uprising, though the Starlink operation shows the Trump administration has done more to support antiregime efforts than has been previously known.

The publication brazenly claims the accusations of an external hidden hand are “without evidence” while in the very next stanza admitting a direct connection, and then seeking to downplay it.

Trump had even in real-time repeatedly said “help is on the way” – even as dozens or possibly hundreds among the dead and injured were police officers and among security forces. This showed some level of an armed element mixed into the destabilizing demonstrations.

Starlink devices, clearly present during the protests given local photo and video evidence, are illegal in Iran and authorities are still trying to uncover and hunt down presumed smuggling networks.

Russian media taking note of the emerging story:

US SMUGGLED 1,000S of Starlink terminals into IRAN after protests erupted — WSJ report

In ‘an effort to keep dissidents ONLINE’

‘Provided covert support’ to RIOTERS pic.twitter.com/s6tEezhtJA

— RT (@RT_com) February 12, 2026

The State Dept has been calling its ongoing purchases of Starlink terminals for Iran part of an ‘internet freedom’ initiative, but if the situation were reversed, Washington obviously wouldn’t stand for it. It is easy to imagine American outrage in the scenario where Iran was the one issuing communications equipment to anti-Trump protesters in the US on a mass scale, for example.