Satellite Imagery

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/10/nx-s1-5775780/us-iran-war-israel-satellite-imagery-planet-vantor-censorship … Unlike previous conflicts, the U.S. has also worked harder to restrict information from the region as well. Trust between the Pentagon and journalists was already low – many in the press corps, including NPR, left the building last fall after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanded members of the press sign a pledge to not solicit information outside of press briefings. With little access to the Pentagon or troops on the ground, satellite images played an outsized role early in the Iran conflict. Reporters used the images to document blows traded by the U.S., Iran and Israel. But within days, the satellite imagery was causing headaches for war planners. On March 3, CNN published Planet imagery showing a base where six U.S. servicemembers were killed. The New York Times published extensive analyses of the damage to communications infrastructure and bases throughout the region. And many outlets, including NPR, used satellite imagery to show that a strike at a girl's elementary school in Iran was part of a larger set of targets at a nearby military base. The U.S. subsequently took responsibility for the strike, and an investigation continues. [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has sought to tightly control information coming out of the Pentagon.Image] By mid-March, the two largest U.S. firms, Vantor and Planet, stopped distributing imagery to the press altogether. Planet then imposed a 14 day hold on all imagery out of the region before switching to an indefinite moratorium. Planet operates a fleet of around 150 satellites that photograph most of Earth's landmasses on a daily basis. Its images had become a mainstay for observers of the events in the Middle East in recent years. The company's pictures have been used to help track atrocities in Syria, document previous attacks by Iran, and chronicle Israel's destruction of Gaza. Both Vantor and Planet say that the decision to begin limiting imagery has been voluntary. "Vantor independently determines when and how these controls are implemented as part of our responsible business practices," the company wrote in an e-mail. "These decisions are not mandated by any government or third party." In an e-mail to NPR on Thursday, Planet added that it hoped to restore access soon: "We remain highly engaged with the U.S. Government," the statement read. "Our goal is to get back to unrestricted access for all of our customers globally as soon as possible, while continuing to limit the risk that our data could be misused." Both companies' satellites are regulated by the government, and both are heavily dependent on business from the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies around the world. Nearly 60% of Planet's revenue in its last quarter came from defense and intelligence contracts, according to a recent shareholder report. Vantor is also a major government contractor that has been awarded millions by agencies like the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense, among others. Last July, the company announced it had won $205 million in contracts with several nations in the Middle East and North Africa, though it declined to say which nations are involved. Censorship workarounds Experts contacted by NPR said that the efforts at censorship had worked to some degree–and they'd made their jobs harder. But there's still information to be found online. On Telegram, Iranian channels, many of which are pro-government, frequently publish videos of events inside the country. Images also continue to trickle in from the Gulf countries, such as a widely circulated image of a destroyed American E-3 Sentry aircraft that was taken at a base in Saudi Arabia. Verifying the images and videos, especially in the age of AI, can be tough. "The big problem is that it becomes very hard to fact check things like videos," said Lewis. The ability to sort fact from fiction "is a lot harder when you don't have recent ground-truth satellite imagery." But the satellite imagery isn't completely gone either. Publicly-funded satellites continue to supply images of the Middle East, albeit at lower resolution than the commercial companies. And a trickle of images from other providers, such as Airbus, continue to provide insights into aspects of the conflict. A satellite image from NASA's Terra spacecraft shows fires burning in the United Arab Emirates on March 16, 2026. Some lower-resolution imagery continues to be available from publicly funded satellites. NASA Worldview The online community of people who do this kind of analysis are used to their information environment constantly shifting according to the whims of companies and algorithms, Godin said. And they're good at finding workarounds: On Tuesday, Bellingcat unveiled an online tool that uses radar data from an old satellite to look for damage from strikes throughout the region. Godin said he continues to keep very busy, and he doesn't expect efforts at censorship to change that. "It's not great that these things are happening," he conceded. "But we're a resilient bunch." NPR's Aya Batrawy and Sarah Knight contributed to this report.