If you think violence in the name of Apple products is plausible you may have an unhealthy obsession with Apple products.

Yes, I think violence in the name of affordable satellite phones is plausible.

A government that beats young women to death could probably intimidate people that grumble that they can't buy the least apple fashion accessory

Right now there's practically a revolution because they don't want to wear a piece of fabric on heads. I don't think they could.

You do realize that these topics arw differwnt? Also a nice stab at supressed women standing up for their rights in very repressive country, doing so takes a lot of courage. Don't diminish that.

I didn't diminish a thing. If anything, it was a stab at the dumb religion the damned government is basing it on. I lived through communism in Europe and was present during the local revolution, I know very well how much courage is required, I was staring inside the gun of a Russian tank there. And no I don't think these topics are too different - everybody knows unfree people need secure communication first and foremost, it's only your take that the iPhone is merely a fashion accessory, but in practice it's also the most secure phone on the market and now it's getting sattelite comms too.

Most Iranians can't afford iPhones.

New iPhones. It's very common to buy secondhand in these markets. The satellite-able ones will need some time to "trickle down" but it's going to happen - especially if it offers this feature.

They'll just declare it a satellite phone and defect make them illegal.

I mean, we are discussing hair here, so it is a (bitter) laugh to imagine that they are going to let citizens have access to an unfettered network ...

They already tried: https://www.globaltradealert.org/intervention/80877/import-b...

From the same site: Iran smartphone imports (sept 2021 - sept 2022)

1 Samsung 48% 2 Xiaomi 28% 3 Nokia 12% 4 Apple 6%

Good thing other manufacturers are going to copy the feature soon.

Tmobile is actually the one that will be partnering with Starlink. Apple is partnering with GlobalStar which actually really sucks (currently) and will have pretty much the worst satellite network for at least a few years. If they really got their shit together and started launching satellites ASAP they could probably improve a lot in a year or two.

Also GlobalStar only covers the continental US and a little farther......

Depending on how strict they are you might be able to smuggle in a Garmin inReach and connect to Iridium now (or an actual Iridium or Inmarsat satellite phone or modem)