Activists sound alarm over US cuts to programs providing internet access and promoting democracy in Iran

CNN

3 days ago

Days after Israel began striking Iran's nuclear and military sites last month, a US non-profit that has provided Starlink internet service to Iranian citizens asked the State Department to urgently reinstate their funding, according to two sources familiar with the outreach.
More than a week later, the request from NetFreedom Pioneers (NFP) has not been granted.
At the same time, the White House has proposed cutting all but a few programs in the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor – including those that work to get Iranians internet access, a third source familiar said.
The Trump administration has for months slashed foreign assistance, but the freeze of NFP funding and the possible additional cuts at the State Department came at a critical time as Iranian society grappled with the Israeli strikes that hit sites throughout the country and killed senior military leaders.
During the nearly two weeks of conflict between Iran and Israel, Tehran imposed internet blackouts nationwide – leaving Iranians unable to quickly access information or contact loved ones outside the country.
Within the State Department, career officials are frustrated that money that could help Iranians isn't getting out the door.
'Even if programs are active, a number of them 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 pause foreign assistance in January, a new level of bureaucracy sunk in that has delayed funding disbursements for numerous programs across the department, including those related to Iran, the official said.
The State Department's pending reorganization, and the proposed cuts to aid programs, mean it's hard for department officials to be optimistic in conversations over funding with nonprofits, according to the official.
'You can read the tea leaves whether you're in the department or not,' they added.
Though the Trump administration is pursuing a diplomatic deal with Iran, President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in a social media post the day after the US carried out strikes against Iran's nuclear sites. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later implied that any regime change wouldn't come through US force while floating the idea of the Iranian people 'rising up against' the regime if it does not give up its nuclear program. But Iranians are struggling for online access to independent information about their government.
'Without access to the open internet, Iranian people are trapped inside the regime's propaganda bubble. The Internet disruptions in Iran allows the government to revive anti-American and anti-Israel sentiment and rewrite the truth after the 12-day military conflict,' said Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian-American democracy activist.
NFP, the non-profit organization, has received US government grants to get the Elon Musk-backed Starlink kits inside Iran for more than two years. Those kits have allowed Iranians to more easily access the internet, avoid government censorship and access blocked sites, even amid the blackouts.
'Iran is at a critical juncture, and millions depend on tools like VPNs, Starlink, and satellite file-casting—many of which are supported by US government funding—to access uncensored information,' Evan Firoozi, the executive director of NFP, told CNN.
'The proposed termination of nearly all overseas pro-democracy programs by the US government threatens to sever this vital lifeline, leaving countless individuals without access to free and trustworthy information,' he said.
Last year, the group received about $150,000 in US government funding and expected to receive the same amount this year. But the grant was unexpectedly halted in January amid the administration's foreign aid freeze, and the group has been given no clear indication when or if the funding will be reinstated.
NFP worked to get about 200 Starlink kits inside Iran after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022 sparked massive protests nationwide. The Iranian government throttled internet access inside the country as part of its attempt to quell the unrest. There was a concerted effort by the US government at the time to support internet access in Iran.
US funding for NFP helped to pay the subscription fees for the kits inside Iran, develop technology for the kits to be used more effectively, and enabled the group to get more kits into the country. After the funding cut, only about half of the Starlink kits the group managed to get into Iran are operational.
Some Trump officials have urged support for Starlink service in Iran.
'Can you turn on @Starlink for free in Iran for the next few weeks, @elonmusk?' Richard Grenell, who currently serves as a special envoy and was the former acting director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration, posted on X on June 21. 'My friends inside Iran don't have regular access to information right now.'
Grenell did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
NFP is not the only Iran-focused tech group pressing the Trump administration for funding. Psiphon, an open-source software tool that millions of Iranians use to evade censorship, is running out State Department funding, according to Ali Tehrani, Psiphon's director of DC operations.
Tehrani told CNN that he has repeatedly appealed to the State Department to disperse funds he says are available through the end of the fiscal year in September, but State Department officials have not committed to doing so. If the funding doesn't arrive, he said, the app simply won't be available to Iranians at scale.
'It's so ironic that when people actually need it, you just do not have access,' Tehrani said. 'That is exactly the time that the Islamic Republic feeds their propaganda to them.'
Use of the Psiphon app in Iran surged during the 2022 protests over Amini's death, Tehrani said. 'That was only possible because the State Department back then was very cooperative in terms of making this happen.'
The State Department did not provide a comment when asked about the funding for NFP or Psiphon.
CNN has requested comment from Iran's mission to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the White House's Office of Management and Budget has proposed widespread cuts at the State Department. Among the nearly 400 programs they recommended be cut from the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor are those fighting and tracking internet censorship in places like Iran, the third source familiar told CNN.
Other programs supported efforts to provide virtual private networks, or VPNs, to allow free internet access in authoritarian countries.
The proposed cuts from OMB come in addition to the scores of foreign assistance contracts that have already been slashed or suspended at the State Department and now-defunct USAID.
It is unclear if the State Department will take OMB's recommendations, but the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor bureau is expected to undergo a radical shift away from human rights work as part of the agency's reorganization plan.
Christopher Le Mon, who served as a deputy assistant in the bureau during the Obama administration, criticized the potential cuts.
'Zeroing out millions of dollars a year in support for human rights defenders, for the women and men fighting abuses by the awful regime in Tehran is not only a moral travesty – it's also completely at odds with the Trump Administration's own Iran policy, and goes against years of directives and support for these programs from Republican and Democratic Members of Congress including then-Senator Rubio,' he said.