One path to regime change in Iran involves targeted strikes on state media infrastructure, designed to sever the regime's grip on domestic narratives. In parallel, Western technology—such as Starlink terminals—could flood the information vacuum with uncensored internet, enabling the West's long-prepared psychological operations to win hearts and minds on the ground. 

Early-phase operations appear to have already involved Israeli airstrikes targeting IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) facilities and associated communication nodes in Tehran at the start of the week. The bombing of Iran's state broadcasters may paralyze the regime's centralized propaganda apparatus. There has been no confirmation if the regime's capacity to broadcast propaganda has been degraded.

The Israeli military pointed out it targeted a "communications center of the Iranian regime," while Iran's foreign ministry called the strike a "war crime." 

By late in the week, the NetBlocks website, which monitors global Internet activity, reported that internet activity across Iran had collapsed to near zero. 

With state media nodes targeted by IDF airstrikes and ground-based communication infrastructure in shambles, the emergence of Starlink internet connectivity inside Iran—either smuggled in or activated via third-party coordination—strongly suggests that the next move by Western forces could involve a domestic operation to supply the population with real-time, censorship-free internet that bypasses state firewalls. 

A week ago, SpaceX's Elon Musk confirmed that Starlink "beams are on" after the Iranian regime cut the internet. 

Neutralizing state media outlets while activating external internet access could mark the West's strategic aim to decapitate the regime's information control, thereby accelerating public disillusionment, fueling color revolution mobilization efforts, and laying the groundwork for all the necessary ingredients for regime change.