The Digester

Planet Labs delays Middle East imagery after Iran strikes on US bases

Mar 7th 2026

Planet Labs is temporarily withholding new satellite images from parts of the Middle East with a mandatory 96-hour delay to prevent its data being used for battle damage assessment, while authorized governments keep real time access and imagery over Iran remains available immediately.

  • Planet is imposing a temporary 96-hour delay on all new imagery over the Gulf States, Iraq, Kuwait and adjacent conflict zones.
  • Imagery over Iran will remain available to non government users as soon as it is acquired.
  • Authorized government customers will keep immediate access for mission critical operations.
  • Planet said the pause aims to stop adversarial actors from using its data for battle damage assessment.
  • Planet operates hundreds of daily Earth imaging satellites and serves media, NGOs, commercial clients and US government agencies, and its recent images showed damage to the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and a US built radar in Qatar.

Sources

arstechnica.com