CNN
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A US nonprofit that asked Iranian citizens to urgently revive the Starlink Internet Service to the State Department, days after Israel began attacking Iranian nuclear and military sites last month, two sources familiar with outreach say.
After more than a week, requests from NetFreedom Pioneers (NFP) have not been granted.
At the same time, the White House proposed to exclude all programs except several of the State Department’s Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Department programs.
The Trump administration has cut foreign aid significantly for months, but the freeze on NFP funding and additional cuts at the State Department came at a critical time as Iranian society tackled Israel’s strike that hit sites across the country and killed senior military leaders.
During a nearly two-week conflict between Iran and Israel, Tehran imposed an internet blackout nationwide. Iranians were unable to access information promptly and were unable to contact their loved ones abroad.
Within the State Department, career staff are unhappy with the money that can help Iranians not leaving the door.
“Even if the program is active, many programs are struggling because payments aren’t being made on time,” a State Department official familiar with the issue told CNN.
After Secretary Marco Rubio’s order to suspend foreign aid in January, a new level of bureaucracy has sunk delaying funding payments for numerous programs across the sector, including those related to Iran, officials said.
The pending State Department reorganization and proposed cuts to support the programme mean it is difficult for department officials to be optimistic in fundraising conversations with nonprofits.
“You can read the tea leaves whether you’re in the department or not,” they added.
The Trump administration is pursuing a diplomatic contract with Iran, but President Donald Trump raised the idea of a change of administration on a social media post the day after the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites. White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt later implied that, while the idea of Iranians “stopping up” the government would not come through our power if they didn’t abandon the nuclear program. However, Iranians struggle with online access to independent government information.
“Without access to the open internet, Iranian people are trapped within the government’s propaganda bubble. Iranian internet turmoil will allow the government to revive anti-American and anti-Israel sentiment and rewrite the truth after a 12-day military conflict.”
The nonprofit NFP has been receiving US government grants to acquire Starlink kits backed by Elon Musk in Iran for more than two years. These kits allowed Iranians to easily access the internet, avoid government censorship, and access sites that were blocked even during power outages.
“Iran is at a critical time, with millions relying on tools like VPNs, Starlink and satellite filecasting (many of which are supported by US government funding).
“The proposed termination of almost all foreign democratic programs by the US government threatens to cut off this important lifeline, leaving countless individuals unable to access free and reliable information,” he said.
Last year, the group received about $150,000 in US government funding, and was expected to receive the same amount this year. However, grants halted unexpectedly in January amid a freeze on the administration’s foreign aid, and the group was not led to clear indications of when funding would recover or when it would revive.
The NFP worked to win around 200 Starlink kits in Iran after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. The Iranian government has thrown internet access domestically as part of an attempt to quell the unrest. At the time, there was a coordinated US government effort to support internet access in Iran.
NFP’s US funding has helped pay for subscription fees for kits in Iran, developed technologies to use the kits more effectively, allowing the group to put more kits into the country. After funding was cut, only about half of the StarLink kits allowed the group to enter Iran.
Some Trump officials are calling for support for Iran’s Starlink Service.
“Can I turn on @starlink for free in Iran for the next few weeks? @elonmusk?” Richard Grenell, currently a special envoy and former director of the first Trump administration’s National Intelligence Bureau, was featured on X on June 21.
Grenell did not respond to multiple requests for comments.
NFPs are not just high-tech groups centered on Iran. According to Ali Tehrani, director of Psiphon’s DC Operations, Psiphon, an open source software tool used by millions of Iranians to avoid censorship, is fleeing State Department funds.
Tehraniani repeatedly appealed to the State Department to dissolve funds that it said would be available by the end of the September fiscal year, but State Department officials have not committed to doing so. If funds don’t arrive, he said the app will not be available to large Iranians.
“The irony is, when people actually need it, you just can’t access,” Tehranni said. “That’s exactly when the Islamic Republic gave them their propaganda.”
The use of the Psiphon app in Iran skyrocketed during the 2022 protests over Amini’s death, Tehrani said. “The State Department at the time was very supportive in making this happen, so that was possible.”
The State Department did not provide any comment when asked about NFP or Psiphon funding.
CNN requested comment from Iran’s mission to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget has proposed widespread cuts at the State Department. Among the nearly 400 programs they recommended, the cuts from the State Department’s Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau would be to fight and track internet censorship in places like Iran, a third source told CNN.
Other programs supported efforts to provide virtual private networks (VPNs) to allow free internet access in authoritarian countries.
The proposed cuts from OMB will be made in addition to the scores of foreign aid contracts that have already been cut or stopped at the State Department and are now repealed by USAID.
It is unclear whether the State Department will receive the OMB recommendations, but it is expected that the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau will undergo a fundamental transition from human rights work as part of its institutional restructuring plan.
Christopher Le Mont, who served as a deputy assistant to the department during the Obama administration, criticized the potential cuts.
“To zero out millions of dollars a year to support human rights advocates. Women and men fighting abuse by Tehran’s terrible administration are not only a moral tragedy, but are in complete conflict with the Trump administration’s Iranian policy, and also against the longstanding direction and support of these programs from Robio and his said republic and democratic members at the time.