Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett stated on Tuesday that his 2021–2022 government launched a covert operation to acquire and smuggle tens of thousands of Starlink satellite internet receivers into Iran. Speaking at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem, Bennett said the devices were intended to allow anti-government protesters to maintain connectivity during state-imposed internet blackouts, coordinate their actions, and ultimately contribute to the toppling of the Iranian government. He asserted that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which succeeded him, did not continue the programme, leaving the infrastructure absent when unrest later erupted.

Netanyahu’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Bennett’s remarks, and SpaceX, the owner of Starlink, was unavailable outside US business hours. Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused both Israel and the United States of smuggling such equipment to undermine national security. Starlink holds no operating licence in Iran, though Elon Musk has previously said the service is active there. Following a twelve-day war in mid-2025, Iran’s parliament passed legislation that classifies devices like Starlink as tools serving enemy objectives, imposing prison sentences for their use, facilitation, or even personal possession. Viewed from Washington, the US is reported to have also sent Starlink units into Iran before the recent conflict, yet the Biden administration has since pursued a diplomatic track: Vice President JD Vance met a senior Iranian delegation in Switzerland, with both sides announcing the formation of working groups to continue negotiations.

Bennett’s disclosure aligns with the “thousand knives” doctrine he promoted during his premiership—a strategy of inflicting multiple, non-military blows on Iran to weaken the state from within. He described the Iranian regime as “rotten, old, disconnected, incompetent” and predicted it would collapse like the Soviet Union, urging Middle Eastern states to join forces to accelerate that outcome. The claim also highlights the role of satellite internet as a circumvention tool during Iran’s repeated internet shutdowns, including those imposed during deadly nationwide protests in January and throughout the US–Israeli military operations that began in late February. Reuters has documented cases of Iranians using Starlink during such blackouts.

Bennett, now leading the right-wing Together alliance with Yair Lapid and campaigning for elections due by October, used the address to portray Netanyahu’s government as incapable on Iran policy. The dossier remains unverified by official Israeli or US channels, and the remarks arrive at a moment of visible divergence between Washington’s diplomatic engagement with Tehran and Israel’s more confrontational posture. The next factual steps include the continuation of US–Iran working-group meetings and the approaching Israeli election, which will determine whether Bennett’s approach to Iran regains institutional backing.