1. Why space was decisive in “Operation Rising Lion” When Israel and the United States struck dozens of Iranian nuclear‑ and missile‑related targets in mid‑June 2025, every phase of the campaign—target discovery, mission‑planning, precision‑guidance and battle‑damage assessment (BDA)—ran on a constant stream of satellite imagery. 2. How Israel’s spy‑satellite stack works Tier Principal satellites Key strengths (2025) Imagery role…
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Introduction: Iran has entered a new phase in its artificial intelligence (AI) journey, marked by ambitious national strategies, growing research output, and a vibrant startup ecosystem. Despite international sanctions and infrastructure challenges, the country aspires to become a top-tier AI nation within the next decade specialeurasia.com en.shanbemag.com. Iranian leaders – including Ayatollah Khamenei – have…
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Iran’s attempt to criminalize Starlink use is colliding head-on with an underground network that is bigger, richer, and more technologically agile than the regime anticipated. Unless SpaceX bows to the ITU—or Iran finds a reliable way to geolocate and seize every dish—satellite internet will continue to poke holes in the Islamic Republic’s digital iron curtain.…
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Infrastructure Overview Iran’s internet infrastructure is a mix of aging fixed broadband and expanding mobile networks, all under strain from sanctions and state control. Fixed broadband largely relies on ADSL (phone-line internet) and a limited fiber-optic rollout. The government has ambitious fiber plans – aiming to cover 20 million premises with fiber by end of…
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The past ten days have seen an unprecedented collision between a Silicon Valley billionaire and one of the world’s most restrictive regimes. When Iranian authorities plunged the country into an almost total internet blackout after Israeli air-strikes on June 13 – 14, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk switched Starlink coverage on over Iran less than 24…
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A dramatic 24-hour burst of missile fire, bunker-buster strikes, and dizzying political messaging has pushed the Iran-Israel war to its most perilous point yet. Iran’s “symbolic” barrage on America’s Al Udeid air base in Qatar came only a day after U.S. B-2 bombers flattened three Iranian nuclear sites, while Israel kept pounding targets in Tehran.…
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In the space of a single June weekend, the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant—long considered Iran’s most impregnable atomic fortress—went from hidden menace to smoking headline. Newly released commercial satellite photos reveal at least six cavernous craters in the rocky ridge protecting the underground centrifuge halls, evidence that the United States unleashed a dozen 30‑thousand‑pound Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs)…
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June 21–22, 2025 – In a massive overnight strike, the United States unleashed a coordinated assault on Iran’s most fortified nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – under the code name Operation Midnight Hammer. This unprecedented attack, conducted in the early hours of June 22 local time, brought together America’s most advanced stealth bombers,…
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Prelude to the Strike: Escalation of a Long-Simmering Conflict For months, tensions between Iran and its adversaries had been building toward a breaking point. In mid-June 2025, Israel launched a daring military campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, saying it “wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons” theguardian.com. Israeli airstrikes beginning on June…
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SummaryNewly released high‑resolution pictures from Maxar and Planet Labs show the once‑impenetrable Fordow uranium‑enrichment plant gashed open after the 22 June U.S. air‑strike, with blast‑sealed tunnel mouths, greyed mountain rock and lingering smoke plumes. Image‑forensics, expert interviews and open‑source intelligence indicate that successive GBU‑57 “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” (MOP) bombs pulverised access shafts, cut external power and…
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