Iran just put a bullseye on Starlink. The Islamic Republic’s Fars News Agency reported on June 11 that Tehran is considering adding companies and assets linked to Elon Musk, particularly SpaceX’s satellite internet service, to its official military target list in West Asia.
Specific Starlink ground stations in Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, Oman, and Israel were explicitly named as potential targets. Iranian authorities stated they reserve the right to attack facilities tied to Musk’s operations across the region.
From satellites to crosshairs
The targeting designation isn’t limited to Starlink hardware. Tehran extended it to operations associated with X, formerly Twitter, in Arab countries and Israel. The framing from Iranian media is straightforward: these aren’t just commercial enterprises, they’re extensions of US military capability.
US military forces have reportedly integrated Starlink and its defense-oriented sibling Starshield into drone operations during conflicts involving Iran in 2026. When a civilian internet service starts routing battlefield communications, the “it’s just WiFi” argument gets harder to make.
