SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Monday that SpaceX will apply for an exempt from sanctions against Iran to allow the company’s Starlink satellite internet service to the country.
Musk posted the tweet via Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) during a period of protests across Iran in protest at the death of a woman being held in police custody. A few people on Twitter demanded Musk to supply satellite-based internet services.
Related: A US court has approved the launch of a SpaceX satellite.
Social media access as well as certain content are blocked in Iran and the internet monitoring group NetBlocks announced “near-total” disruption to internet connectivity in the capital city of the Kurdish region on Monday, tying it to protests.
The Iran’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology could not be to be reached to provide a response. The Iranian foreign ministry as well as Iran’s diplomatic Mission in the United Nations and the United States Bureau of Industry and Security have not responded to Reuters requests for comments.
Musk didn’t specify from the country Starlink will seek exemptions however Iran faces sanctions on a broad basis.
SpaceX intends to speedily expand Starlink and is competing with rival satellite communication companies like OneWeb along with Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s yet to go live with Project Kuiper.
Related: Elon Musk pokes fun at Twitter, Web3, and non-ferrous metals on Twitter.
