Planet Labs, which operates the world's largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites, has dramatically tightened access to imagery of the Middle East as the war with Iran enters its third week. What began as a four-day publication delay after hostilities started has grown into a two-week blackout - a period covering virtually the entire conflict, "Hvylya" reports, citing an analysis in The Economist.
The restriction covers not only the Gulf states but also allied military bases farther afield and all of Iran. On March 6, a researcher who asked to remain anonymous discovered that Iranian coastline images he had viewed just one day earlier were no longer available. Some business-intelligence clients were reportedly furious over the sudden policy shift.
Planet told customers its goal was to "balance our commitment to transparency" with limiting the risk of imagery being used to plan attacks on allied forces or civilians. Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said the sheer quality and volume of commercial imagery now made it genuinely useful for targeting and battle-damage assessment.
"I don't think anyone was prepared for a protracted war," Lewis added, noting that the standard 24- or 48-hour publication delay was never designed for a conflict stretching over weeks or months. Unlike previous skirmishes, where Iranian strikes were one-off events, Tehran is now firing sustained waves of missiles - rendering the old transparency model obsolete.
Planet is not alone in restricting access. Vantor, formerly known as Maxar, has long withheld photographs of American bases and restricted images of Ukraine taken after 2022. But Planet had historically been more open with imagery of sensitive sites, making its policy reversal all the more striking. Sam Lair, also of MIIS, said the core problem for researchers was now "cadence and revisit rate rather than quality."
Also read: Hegseth Slashes Pentagon Civilian Protection Staff by 90% as Iran Death Toll Climbs.