SpaceX chief Elon Musk mentioned he was activating his firm’s Starlink web service in Iran, which lower off internet entry to its greater than 80 million residents this week, after the U.S. Treasury Department eased sanctions to assist help the free stream of knowledge within the nation.

In latest days, the Iranian authorities has carried out a swift and violent crackdown on the large protests which have rocked the nation for the reason that demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16. The nation’s morality police detained the younger girl in mid-September as a result of they thought-about she was not wearing her hijab, or headband, correctly. Amini died three days after being arrested by the morality police.

Her household and protestors say the younger girl died as a result of she was beaten by the police. Authorities, in the meantime, declare she died from a coronary heart assault.

The American authorities has known as Amini’s demise a tragedy and on Friday issued steerage that loosened restrictions for tech corporations looking for to function in Iran, which stays underneath strict sanctions from the U.S.

“The Iranian government has cut off access to the Internet for most of its 80 million citizens to prevent them—and the world—from watching its violent crackdown on peaceful protestors,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a statement on Friday. “It is clear that the Iranian government is afraid of its own people. Mahsa Amini is senselessly, tragically dead, and now the government is violently suppressing peaceful protesters rightly angry about her loss.”

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According to the Treasury Department, the steerage consists of an authorization known as the “General License D-2.” The self-executing license expands the scope of permitted software program and repair exports to Iran and permits corporations to offer instruments together with social media platforms, collaboration platforms, conferencing, e-gaming, and cloud-based companies, a senior Treasury Department official mentioned in a press briefing on Friday.

Notably, Starlink doesn’t fit into any of the examples provided by the U.S. government, which means that it’s not clear whether Musk would simply be able to flip a switch to turn on his satellite internet service in Iran.

“Our understanding of Starlink is that what they provide would be commercial grade, and it would be hardware that’s not covered in the general license, so that would be something they would need to write into Treasury for,” the senior Treasury Department official mentioned within the press briefing, in line with a transcript.

Earlier this week, before the government announced its support for internet freedom, that’s exactly what the tech billionaire said he was going to do. On Monday, Musk tweeted that Starlink would ask for an exemption from American sanctions on Iran in order to provide internet in the country. It wasn’t clear whether the Musk would actually do this, though. As we all know, he’s a big talker. There are some things he does decide to go through with, but he has a bad habit of pulling out at the last minute and causing a giant mess.

In the briefing, the senior Treasury Department official added that its Office of Foreign Asset Control, the entity in charge of administering and enforcing sanctions, welcomed applications for licenses for any activity not covered under its new guidance.

“For any activity not covered by General License D-2, OFAC welcomes and we will prioritize applications for specific licenses to authorize activities supporting internet freedom in Iran,” the senior Treasury Department official pointed out.

Gizmodo reached out to SpaceX on Saturday to ask for comment and clarification on whether it was going forward with Musk’s announcement to activate Starlink in Iran. However, we did not receive a response.

Iran on Saturday criticized the U.S. for loosening only certain sanctions, stating that it was part of the country’s agenda against its government.

“By reducing the severity of a number of communications sanctions—while maintaining maximum pressure—the U.S. is seeking to advance its goals against Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani mentioned, in line with a report in state media.