Satellite firm Planet Labs told clients, including major news outlets, that it was acting at the request of the Trump administration. DESIGNATED he was enforcing “an indefinite image blackout” in Iran and across the Middle East, where the escalating US-Israeli conflict is unfolding.
Planet Labs sent an email to journalists who have regularly used the company’s satellite imagery to report on the US-Israeli bombing of Iran and Iran’s retaliatory actions on Saturday, saying that after receiving a request from the US government, it was “moving to a managed access model … and releasing images on a case-by-case basis and for urgent public or mission requests.”
Data and images collected starting March 9 will be held by Planet Labs. The company previously imposed a 14-day deadline delay in releasing satellite images to ensure they would not be “used” by “adversary actors”.
Washington Post Journalist Evan Hill suggested the latest announcement would limit journalists’ access to information from “one of the most important providers of US-based commercial satellite imagery that most media outlets rely on.”
The announcement comes in line with Iran’s military capabilities RECITED exceeded US expectations, with US intelligence reporting that Iran has retained many of its missiles and mobile launchers and casting doubt on Pentagon claims that the US is severely depleting Iran’s missile stockpile.
notice, said UK rights activist Sarah Wilkinson was a sign that images of the war would be censored “to hide the truth”.
The White House’s request for a freeze on satellite imagery was the latest sign that “Trump’s war is going well.” said podcast host Mark Ames embarrassingly.
It also coincided with multiple threats over the weekend from the President Donald TrumpWHO said this tuesday will be “Power Plant Day and Bridge Day all rolled into one” – with increased attacks on Iranian civilians infrastructure unless Iran agrees to a deal on Monday.
A main bridge was destroyed from the US on Saturday, as Israeli forces bombed an important petrochemical complex, RECITED sending pollution in the surrounding city. At least 13 people were killed in the two attacks combined. A shell that hit near Bushehr Nuclear Energy The plant also killed at least one person and raised concerns of a larger attack which “could cause a nuclear accident, with health impacts that would destroy generations”. World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Kenneth Roth, former CEO of Human rights Look, said The Trump administration’s request that the satellite images be withheld “will make it much more difficult to monitor US-Israeli bombing there, which appears to be the point.”
Also on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported that Israeli soldiers had “destroyed all the CCTV cameras” around United Nations Temporary Force in Lebanona mission in the southern part of the country where three peacekeepers were injured in an explosion on Friday and several others have been killed since early March, including some by Israeli fire.
Originally published by Shared dreamsthis article is republished under a Creative Commons license.
