Starlink iPhones can’t come soon enough.
I mean, we are discussing hair here, so it is a (bitter) laugh to imagine that they are going to let citizens have access to an unfettered network ...
From the same site: Iran smartphone imports (sept 2021 - sept 2022)
1 Samsung 48% 2 Xiaomi 28% 3 Nokia 12% 4 Apple 6%
Also GlobalStar only covers the continental US and a little farther......
Depending on how strict they are you might be able to smuggle in a Garmin inReach and connect to Iridium now (or an actual Iridium or Inmarsat satellite phone or modem)
Yeah, authoritarian governments will just allow that to happen, let alone the cost of such a device is out of reach for most of these people.