Successive US administrations have repeatedly asked Elon Musk's SpaceX to switch Starlink on or off in several countries, from Ukraine to Iran, to advance American foreign policy goals.
The requests span the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations, according to six former senior US officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The requests are reportedly being made public for the first time.
Four of the former officials told Reuters that, under Biden, the US asked SpaceX to cut service to prevent Iranian proxy militias in Yemen and Lebanon from using Starlink to communicate.
In Iran, Washington wanted internet access activated to help anti-government protesters and to pressure Tehran.
Officials under Biden believed the Houthis and Hezbollah were using diverted terminals that reached the militants through intermediaries. Intelligence officials told the White House in October 2023 that individuals linked to Hezbollah may have obtained Starlink terminals during fighting in southern Lebanon.
Five of the former officials said similar concerns arose about the Houthis in Yemen in 2024. In some cases, the administration asked SpaceX to identify the terminals and shut them down, and at least some were deactivated, two officials said.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, discussed activating Starlink in Iran after US-Israeli strikes in June 2025 and again in February 2026, a former senior Trump official and a person familiar with the matter said. Neither administration has publicly confirmed that terminals were switched on in Iran.
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The Wall Street Journal reported in February that the US government had sent thousands of Starlink terminals into the country.
The disclosures follow the throttling of Ukraine's access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that speed limits were interfering with the performance of Ukrainian drones and hampering defence against Russian missile attacks.
The order to slow the service came from inside the White House, which has acknowledged the slowdown without saying whether it gave the order.
Musk said in a social media post that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government and that any limits are decided by the US military and, ultimately, the president.
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Democratic Representative Jason Crow called for clarity, saying unelected billionaires and private corporations should not decide what is in America's national security interest.
Ukraine's embassy in Washington said its priority is to see the service restored to normal speed as soon as possible.
Musk has limited Ukraine's use of Starlink before. In 2022, Reuters reported, SpaceX personnel cut coverage in areas where Ukraine was trying to retake territory.
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