Elon Musk has stated his firm Starlink will ask for an exemption to sanctions so it could possibly present satellite tv for pc broadband to Iran.
The founding father of Tesla and SpaceX posted on Twitter that Starlink is “now active on all continents, including Antarctica”.
When a fan requested if it will be potential to provide Starlink to individuals in Iran, Mr Musk replied: “Starlink will ask for an exemption to Iranian sanctions in this regard.”
Starlink is a fast-growing community of greater than 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit, with tens of hundreds of customers within the US alone.
Mr Musk, the richest particular person on the earth, has stated that it goals to convey high-speed web entry to these in distant and rural areas.
But it isn’t the primary time he has been requested by a Twitter fan about when he’ll broaden the service to cowl Iran, the place entry to the web is closely restricted as the federal government seeks to regulate dissent.
Mr Musk’s promise comes as protests proceed in components of Iran over the demise of a younger lady in police custody.
Mahsa Amini, 22, was being held by the nation’s morality police for not sporting an Islamic scarf, or hijab, to cowl her hair.
Internet down in components of Iran as protests proceed
Police insist she died from a coronary heart assault, however her household stated she had no historical past of coronary heart issues and that she had suffered bruising to her legs.
A 3rd day of demonstrations on Monday noticed safety forces open fireplace on protesters in her residence city, the town of Saqez, in Iran’s Kurdish area – claiming the lives of two individuals.
An extra two died within the city of Divandarreh from “direct fire”, in line with human rights group, Hengaw, with 15 injured and a fifth killed in Dehgolan, additionally within the Kurdish area.
Netblocks stated the web was out for greater than three hours within the area, together with outages in Tehran and different Iranian cities since Friday.
Efforts to revive Iran nuclear deal
Sanctions on Iran have been imposed over current a long time because of the nation’s nuclear exercise.
These have been eased as a part of the 2015 nuclear deal, referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action.
But in 2018, then president Donald Trump pulled the US out of the settlement, re-imposing sanctions and prompting Tehran to start out backing away from the deal’s phrases.
Efforts are underneath method to revive the deal.
Mr Musk has not given any additional particulars about how he’ll apply for an exemption.
Source: information.sky.com”