Satellite Firm Blocks Iran War Images After Trump Request

Source: Xinhua News Agency / Getty

A satellite firm announced that it was placing an indefinite hold on the availability of images from Iran and the surrounding areas in the Middle East to the public. It stated that it was complying with a request from the Trump administration.

Planet Labs, which is based in California, made the announcement in an email on Saturday (April 4). Images of Iran and other areas currently in the midst of the conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel. The email said in part that it would be “moving to a managed access model… and releasing imagery on a case-by-case basis and for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest.”

Images from Planet Labs have been extensively used by journalists to catalogue strikes in the region, as well as to assess the damage from the ongoing conflict, which began on February 28. The firm also stated that a previous 14-day delay of image access was to prevent adversaries from using the data to attack the U.S. and its allies.

All data beginning retroactively on March 9 would be withheld, but some images could be released on a “case-by-case basis for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest,” and the policy is expected to be in place until the conflict ends.

The move has alarmed members of the press and observers concerned about the Trump administration’s move to seemingly block transparency about the conflict. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, former Human Rights Watch executive Kenneth Roth underscored those concerns, writing: “The Trump administration’s demand that it withhold images of Iran will make it much more difficult to monitor US-Israeli bombing there, which seems to be the point.”

The news comes as President Donald Trump has extended a deadline he declared for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the passage of oil, fertilizer and other key global resources by Tuesday (April 7). Trump threatened that if Iran didn’t agree, the U.S. would attack more of Iran’s infrastructure in a move he dubbed “Power Plant Day” on social media.