Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace: Internet Shutdown Is the Most Unpleasant Decision, but National Security Is No Joke

The Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and Head of the National Cyberspace Center announced readiness for and testing of systems to identify and disconnect Starlink terminals. He described a full internet shutdown as "the most unpleasant decision possible," while saying that under certain conditions the decision is unavoidable. Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and Head of the National Cyberspace Center, said at a news conference on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 (21 Mehr 1405), in response to questions

The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the head of the National Center of Cyberspace announced the readiness and testing of the identification and disconnection systems of Starlink terminals. He called the complete disconnection of the Internet "the most unpleasant possible decision" and in...

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The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the head of the National Center of Cyberspace announced the readiness and testing of the identification and disconnection systems of Starlink terminals. He called the complete shutdown of the Internet "the most unpleasant possible decision" and at the same time said that in certain circumstances this decision is unavoidable.

According to Ambassador Arjan, Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the head of the National Center of Cyberspace, answered the questions of journalists in a press conference today, 21 October 1405.

At the beginning, he mentioned the evolution of cyber space and said: "Once upon a time, cyber space was a tool, but today we have a society where people live, work, have fun and follow their connections. If this society was not given enough attention, maybe it would not be formed properly. With the initiative of the leader of the revolution, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace was established in 2010 with this view, and the Council and the National Center of Cyberspace became responsible for the management and policy making of this area. Issues such as the National Information Network and children and adolescents were also included in the agenda.

He added: "Virtual space has provided us with irreplaceable opportunities such as educational justice, access to the market, fighting corruption and international interactions. Before, introducing our values ​​and principles to the world was a complicated process, but thanks to the virtual space, it has become easier. Of course, this issue is two-sided; We are the audience and our principles and values ​​are seen in the world."

He said: "The duty of the council and the center is to provide the best technologies, the best environment and the best quality with the least harm to the people. This process has different social, cultural, economic and legal dimensions that must be seen in a coherent manner.

He added: "Today, the state of the country's ecosystem is commendable. We can provide the necessary services to the people, and the digital economy is progressing day by day despite various problems."

Aghamiri said about the harms of cyber space: "There are also issues such as children and teenagers, addictive services, fraud, phishing and fraud, and all countries are trying to reduce these harms. "In the last year and a half, the most important issue that the world's legislators have paid attention to is the issues related to children and teenagers in cyberspace."

He added: "In Iran, we are specifically involved in another issue. Today, wars in the world are taking place in five arenas, and space and cyberspace are two new battlefields; Fields for harming people and governments. Cyber ​​warfare has several aspects, including hacking, using cyberspace data for military purposes, cognitive warfare, social manipulation, and cyber warfare. Stuxnet was one of the first cases of using cyber weapons against Iran.

Today, we are involved in a combined war, and along with the economic and security war, there is also a cyber war going on. It has been resisted to a high extent and the enemy wants to change this situation in any way. If Netanyahu says Starlink is the way out, this is also part of the same puzzle to destroy Iran's sovereignty.

Aghamiri said about the development of the national information network: "For the development of the national information network, work has been divided and the duties of each unit are clear. Today, all countries that seek to become stronger pay attention to the national information network. For example, the European Union has the Eurostack project on its agenda.

He added: "The progress of the National Information Network has reached 60% with a leap in the last two or three years. It is natural that there will be a break with the change of governments. The Minister of Communications is constantly following up on this matter. We have published the status report of this network in March 1403 and its status report in March 1404 will also be published in one month. However, last year was a difficult year with unrest and two wars."

"We need to work more seriously in areas such as search engines, SSLs, and government cloud infrastructure," he said. "If the network is complete, it will be more enjoyable for people to use domestic and foreign services."

The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyber Space said about the decision to limit the Internet: "Different institutions have opinions on this issue and the decision is made collectively. National security is not a joke. Various mechanisms have been considered so that if it is necessary to cut or limit the Internet, there will be no problem for those who have commercial or scientific activities and for the essential needs of the country. Several mechanisms have been proposed for this purpose, and we hope that their implementation will cause the least damage to essential activities and vital needs.

He said: "Dominance of cyberspace does not mean cutting off the Internet. In the past years, the country's policy has always been to provide high-quality services to the people. But when the enemy is conducting cognitive or military operations and uses this platform to harm our people, the situation is different. During these years and in critical moments, such as the 12-day war, we have experienced various methods, including smart restrictions.

Only once in January did we completely shut down the internet for a few hours so security officials could manage the scene. The rest were just limitations.

Aghamiri said: "No one likes the internet being cut off; As no one likes to have flights canceled during wartime. In the conditions of war, there is economic, military and cyber pressure, and we have to manage all the mechanisms to maintain independence and protect people's lives, mind and peace.

He also said about the decision-making authority to cut off the Internet: "Decision-making in crisis conditions is the responsibility of a group that mainly includes security institutions and the National Security Council, and decisions are made in those conditions."

The head of the National Center for Virtual Space said: "Due to the existence of the National Information Network, during the events of January and the war, no POS devices were cut off, and the required networks of schools and social networks were available. "Some things that depend on the international internet will be disrupted."

Referring to the events in France, claiming that the internet was cut off in that country, he said: "According to the statement they published, the internet is cut off at certain times, although the reports on social networks indicate more cuts. But the important difference is the ecosystem itself; Because we have a national information network, if the international internet is cut off, no POS device will fail; While in France, the payment systems failed. "The educational services of our schools are not interrupted and our social networks are working well."

He added: "Interactions of people, education and business, due to the existence of the domestic ecosystem, provide their services in full. Of course, some activities related to the international Internet face challenges, for which mechanisms have also been considered. The important thing we have learned is that we must have our own ecosystem."

Aghamiri said about the lessons learned from the war: "The most important lesson of this war is to provide the best quality services to the people based on the governance and frameworks of our country." Iran has shown throughout history that it does not become a colony of anyone; Neither in the physical space nor in the virtual space, and it will advance its path firmly and firmly.

The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyber Space said about cyber attacks: "There are different models of attack; DDoS attacks, IP attacks and social engineering used to dump information. There are many methods of cybercrime. There are many DDoS attacks from both outside and inside and many zombies have been created. Software downloaded from unauthorized sources can be the cause of this. In a report presented by the Ministry of Communications in one of the commissions, it was mentioned about games that children download and perform such activities behind the scenes; Therefore, some of the zombies are inside the country. But the main problem is APTs, that is, professional hacking teams that do damage."

He added: "When the communication path is completely open, amateurs attack from different parts of the world and we face a large number of attacks. In the 12-day war, the Internet was cut off in the last 72 hours; That is, according to the type of threat, management was done. The decision was that by eliminating the amateur teams, our security teams could manage the scene against the ever-present professional teams. Usually, a few days before military attacks, we face a large volume of cyber attacks. In this war, the enemy also had successes, but overall, we managed the scene."

He said about the technical difficulties of restricting the Internet: "Managing the network during a crisis is very stressful and annoying. When managing routes, there are a lot of technical problems; APIs crashing, DNS update glitches, and tons of other big and small issues. Every time such decisions are made, network professionals and administrators get really worried about how to handle the situation. But despite all these pressures, the peace that is maintained for the people, the damage that is prevented, the missile that does not hit the target, and the scientist that is not assassinated, are valuable for all of us, and we endure this hardship to preserve the country's integrity."

Aghamiri said about the ability to deal with Starlink: "Starlink has a very transparent technical mechanism. In the history of technology, every technology has always been controllable by other technology. There is no technology in the world that is super technology and cannot be countered.

The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace continued:

We have both the Starlink terminal identification system and disconnection technologies. The experts of the country have worked very well; The products are ready and tested. In January, we used one of these technologies and the connection was interrupted.

He continued: "There are also foreign reports; When the loss of data packets or Packet Loss in the network reaches 80%, it practically means a disconnection. "When this work is done in one place, it can be done in other places as well."

In response to the statements that he called the fight against Starlink "Kashk", he said: "The person who said that the fight against Starlink is Kashk, is a political person and I doubt that he has technical expertise. His opinion is respected, but we do our own work. Technologists know that it is false to say that a technology exists and nothing can be done about it. Every technology can be controlled by other technology.

He said about the technical method of dealing with Starlink: "Disclosing the technology is another matter, but to explain the issue, I must say that the phased array antenna does not emit ambient radiation, but sends a very narrow beam. For this reason, normal disorder systems do not work; Because the antenna aims at the exact same point and sees the same point. Therefore, the old systems used for TV satellites are not responsive. Professionals know that the channel is immediately detected and filtered, and the system continues to operate as the frequency changes. "Definitely, the technology we use is not those old systems."

He added: "They guessed that we were using GPS spoofing technology; This was actually their attempt to understand our method, but they were unsuccessful. In order to communicate, these satellites cell the earth, and in each cell, a frequency with a specific bandwidth is sent and data is distributed. Extracting location in a system with a large number of senders and receivers is not a difficult task. If Starlink can fail with GPS trickery alone, it must have very poor technology. Of course, this method has also been tested and it works in some areas, but it is not the main importance."

He said about the identification of terminals: "The most important point is identification. There is a 3% margin of error with conventional methods and the dishes are very hard to find, but there are other technologies that make these systems easier to find. These methods have been tested and worked; "The issue is completely serious and operational."

Aghamiri said about Iran's international pursuits: "Iran submitted its complaint to ITU several times and received a verdict of condemnation. The issue was also announced to its regulatory body. The license was obtained from Norway and America was also informed. Iran again complained that the activity was still going on. They said they could not recognize the situation. We said how for India and China, the signal goes off as soon as the satellite passes, but in Iran you can't detect the position? This is a game with international systems. "Recently, both America and Mr. Musk have tacitly confirmed that they are using this tool in wars."

He added: "It seems that this tool is more a tool of war than of communication; It is used for enemy command and control, espionage and information gathering. A technology that neither obeys the rules nor has a service approach is a serious issue that must be managed with authority. No one has the right to violate the governance of the country. A country that does not have a ruler does not have a ruler. We are ready to share this technology with aligned countries."

"Besides shutting down Starlink, the important question is, why would a seemingly commercial company behave like this?" he said. Is it a commercial enterprise or does it exhibit military behavior? If we come to the conclusion that this company's behavior is military, we must answer the question why it insists on operating in Iran to such an extent?"

He added: "What are they looking for in Iran that they put so much pressure, send numerous contraband shipments to the country and provide them to different people?" Why have they launched heavy media and advertising activities to insinuate that no one can deal with Starlink and create despair in the society? Regardless of the technology, this is a serious issue that needs to be managed. "The enemy's greed for this land and people continues, and we must manage the scene in such a way that the least harm is done to the people."

He said about the legal basis for confronting Starlink: "According to Articles 52 and 53 of the Geneva Convention, any tool used on the battlefield is considered a military objective. It depends on the decision of the companies themselves whether their tools are used for peace and tranquility or as tools of war. According to the Geneva Convention, any tool used in the military field is considered a military tool and a legitimate goal.

The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace said about the amount of use of filter breakers: "Many reports are presented and there are disagreements about the percentage of use of filter breakers." The important point is that the existing policies had challenges. In the same government, with the concern of whether the previous policy has worked or not, the possibility of its improvement and change was discussed. "Approving the 32-section document was actually the answer to this question."