Iran's Internet Blackout and Satellite Image Restrictions Hinder War Reporting

The initial indications that an American aircraft had been shot down emerged on the Telegram messaging app. Images depicting aircraft debris and a pilot's empty ejection seat appeared on pro-Iranian channels, quickly followed by videos showing search-and-rescue aircraft flying at low altitudes over the mountains of southwestern Iran.

Jake Godin, a senior researcher at Bellingcat, an organization specializing in open-source investigations, began working to verify the authenticity of this information. Godin is part of an informal network of journalists, human rights activists, and online influencers dedicated to geolocating and verifying events in war zones in real-time.

However, Godin and his colleagues found themselves lacking essential tools for their work. Iran had recently imposed a strict internet blackout, significantly limiting the flow of information from civilians to the outside world. Concurrently, satellite imagery, a critical tool for corroborating ground-level photos, became increasingly scarce.

Shortly after the conflict in Iran began, the satellite provider Planet introduced a two-week delay in sharing imagery with journalists and the public. The day after the aircraft incident, Planet announced it would cease providing any recent images of the entire Middle East. In an email to its customers, the company stated, "The U.S. government has requested all satellite imagery providers voluntarily implement an indefinite withhold of imagery in the designated Area of Interest (AOI). We expect this policy to last through the end of the conflict."

The decision by Planet and another American company, Vantor, to restrict access to their high-resolution images, which frequently capture Iran and the Gulf, represented a setback for researchers. Godin and others observed that this situation reflected a long-standing challenge: governments' desire to control the narrative during wartime.

Susan Carruthers, a historian at the University of Warwick and author of The Media at War, commented, "States tend to be extremely jittery about how wars are reported when they themselves have some national investment." The U.S. and Iranian governments are not the only entities attempting to curb information from the conflict. In Gulf states, hundreds of individuals have been arrested or detained for posting videos of strikes and military facilities on social media. Israel has also implemented strict regulations on what images citizens and journalists can share online.

This trend marks a significant reversal from the past decade, during which social media and mobile phones facilitated a greater understanding of conflict zones from afar, according to Godin. "There is still video, there's still photos that are coming out, there's still some satellite images," he noted, "But it's becoming harder and harder."

Controlling the narrative Throughout modern history, governments have been hesitant to fully expose the horrors of war, particularly concerning images. Carruthers explained that states hold a "really entrenched belief that if people actually saw war in all its gory awfulness that it would be untenable to pursue military ventures." This approach was largely successful in the first half of the 20th century, with heavily censored photos and newsreels from World War I and an "airbrushed" portrayal of World War II.

However, by the Vietnam War, controlling visuals became considerably more challenging. With televisions in most American homes by the late 1960s, the public received daily footage from journalists on the ground in South Vietnam. Some military officials attributed the loss of the war to nightly news coverage. General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, stated after the war, "Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind. Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country." Carruthers noted that this sentiment led to intensified efforts to constrain the media, especially visual media. A strategy adopted at the turn of the 21st century involved allowing reporters to embed with the military, which, despite relatively light censorship in Iraq and Afghanistan, helped ensure a sympathetic viewpoint by keeping the press close to the troops.

Satellites and social media In the past decade, technology has again transformed how the world perceives warfare. Starting with the Arab Spring in the early 2010s, social media emerged as a crucial tool for verifying claims and monitoring conflicts, according to Godin. During the Syrian civil war, citizens extensively filmed events, with videos of barrel bombs being dropped on homes appearing on YouTube within hours. Godin himself monitored hundreds of YouTube channels to gain a granular understanding of the conflict.

Simultaneously, near-daily satellite imagery became widely accessible to the public. This imagery provided a means to authenticate videos posted online. Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of global security at Middlebury College, emphasized the importance of satellite imagery, stating, "It's visual and it helps us organize all the other information that we have." He added that it allows for linking multiple videos to a single event and pinpointing its location, effectively enabling observers to "put a pin in a place."

The combined power of these technologies has grown in recent years. Godin cited Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an example, describing it as a "torrent of media: photos, videos, and a lot of them released by Ukraine themselves." These images, corroborated by satellite imagery, have been instrumental in chronicling the conflict.

However, the war in Iran has presented a different scenario. Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group, noted that Iran has imposed a near-complete internet blackout within its borders, a relatively new measure for the country. Even during the U.S. and Israeli bombing of Iran's nuclear sites last year, events were "widely reported by the citizenry on social media networks." Vaez stated that restrictions began only in the second week of that 12-day war, whereas the current full blackout by the regime, which started with civil protests in early 2026, appears to be more serious and strict.

Iran is not alone in these efforts. Marc Owens Jones, associate professor of media analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar, observed a general attempt to "corral" information across the Persian Gulf. He mentioned a case where an individual was stopped for making a video call near a sensitive installation. In early March, Qatar's Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of over 300 people for filming videos and spreading "misleading" information.

Jim Krane, a research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute specializing in energy geopolitics, suggested that this censorship is driven by both security concerns and economic considerations. He pointed out that Gulf states have cultivated an image of safety for residents and investors, an image that the current war is disrupting. Krane believes the censorship is partly an effort "to try and burnish and maintain their image as a safe haven," particularly for Dubai, whose business model he feels is currently under strain. While Dubai police have not released specific detention numbers, police in Abu Dhabi reported arresting 375 individuals for unauthorized photography and spreading false information.

Limiting access Unlike in previous conflicts, the U.S. has also intensified efforts to restrict information from the region. Trust between the Pentagon and journalists was already low; many in the press corps, including NPR, departed last fall after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth mandated that journalists sign a pledge to obtain information solely from press briefings. With limited access to the Pentagon or troops on the ground, satellite images played a disproportionately significant role early in the Iran conflict, enabling reporters to document exchanges between the U.S., Iran, and Israel.

However, within days, the satellite imagery began causing complications for war planners. On March 3, CNN published Planet imagery showing a base where six U.S. servicemembers were killed. The New York Times provided extensive analyses of damage to communications infrastructure and bases across the region. Numerous outlets, including NPR, used satellite imagery to demonstrate that a strike on a girls' elementary school in Iran was part of a broader targeting of a nearby military base. The U.S. subsequently accepted responsibility for the strike, and an investigation is ongoing.

By mid-March, Vantor and Planet, the two largest U.S. firms, ceased distributing imagery to the press entirely. Planet then imposed a 14-day hold on all imagery from the region before implementing an indefinite moratorium.

Planet operates a fleet of approximately 150 satellites that photograph most of Earth's landmasses daily. Its images have become a staple for observers of Middle Eastern events in recent years, having been used to track atrocities in Syria, document previous Iranian attacks, and chronicle Israel's destruction of Gaza.

Both Vantor and Planet maintain that their decisions to limit imagery distribution were voluntary. Vantor stated in an email, "Vantor independently determines when and how these controls are implemented as part of our responsible business practices. These decisions are not mandated by any government or third party." In a subsequent email to NPR on Thursday, Planet expressed hope for restoring access soon, adding, "We remain highly engaged with the U.S. Government. Our goal is to get back to unrestricted access for all of our customers globally as soon as possible, while continuing to limit the risk that our data could be misused."

Both companies' satellites are government-regulated, and both rely heavily on contracts with the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies worldwide. According to a recent shareholder report, nearly 60% of Planet's revenue in its last quarter was derived from defense and intelligence contracts. Vantor is also a significant government contractor, having received millions from agencies such as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense. Last July, the company announced it had secured $205 million in contracts with several Middle Eastern and North African nations, though it declined to specify which ones.

Censorship workarounds Experts interviewed by NPR acknowledged that the censorship efforts had achieved some success and made their jobs more difficult. Nevertheless, information remains accessible online. Iranian channels on Telegram, many of which are pro-government, frequently publish videos of events occurring within the country. Images also continue to emerge from Gulf countries, such as a widely circulated photograph of a destroyed American E-3 Sentry aircraft taken at a base in Saudi Arabia.

Verifying these images and videos, especially in the age of AI, presents a significant challenge. Lewis stated, "The big problem is that it becomes very hard to fact check things like videos. The ability to sort fact from fiction is a lot harder when you don't have recent ground-truth satellite imagery."

However, satellite imagery has not entirely disappeared. Publicly funded satellites continue to provide images of the Middle East, albeit at a lower resolution than those from commercial companies. Additionally, a stream of images from other providers, such as Airbus, continues to offer insights into aspects of the conflict.

Godin mentioned that the online community engaged in this type of analysis is accustomed to their information environment constantly shifting based on the decisions of companies and algorithms. They are adept at finding workarounds: On Tuesday, Bellingcat unveiled an online tool that utilizes radar data from an older satellite to detect damage from strikes across the region.

Godin stated that he remains very busy and does not anticipate that censorship efforts will alter this. "It's not great that these things are happening," he conceded. "But we're a resilient bunch."