Humanitarian organisations and journalists have expressed concerns after a leading satellite imagery company told its users it was restricting access to images of Iran and large parts of the Middle East following a request from the US government.
California-based Planet Labs initially introduced a 14-day delay on providing new imagery from the region in March. It has since moved to an "indefinite" restriction.
The decision has limited how journalists, humanitarian groups and analysts can use satellite images to assess the impact of the US-Israel war with Iran, including damage to military targets and civilian infrastructure.
It is unclear what prompted the US to press Planet to suspend its coverage and the Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.
Planet initially said its original 14-day delay policy was "to ensure our imagery is not tactically leveraged by adversarial actors to target allied and Nato-partner personnel and civilians".
