The deputy for technology of the Minister of Communications of the Islamic Republic, Hokami, said that for two years “concerned people” have been warning about Starlink, but according to him during this period “not even a single line of policymaking” has been carried out in this regard.

He added: “If Starlink becomes active, we should turn the Ministry of Communications and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace into a theme park.”

Hokami also claimed that out of about 13,000 Starlink satellites, 1,600 have become non-operational, and the number of non-operational satellites of this network is higher than the total number of satellites from China, Russia, India and Europe.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Mehr 2, displayed a Starlink device and said the Islamic Republic is afraid of Iranian citizens’ access to free information and therefore spends billions of dollars on internet censorship. He handed the device to the head of the General Assembly so that it would be delivered to the Islamic Republic’s delegation.