In an email to customers reported on April 5, 2026, Planet Labs, a major U.S. commercial satellite imagery provider, said the U.S. government had asked satellite imagery providers to impose an “indefinite withhold of imagery” of Iran and the Middle East conflict region, and that it would comply. The withhold covers imagery dating back to March 9, and the company said it expects it to stay in place until the war ends. The war began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran. Planet said it would move to a “managed distribution” model, releasing imagery “on a case-by-case basis” for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest. “These are extraordinary circumstances, and we are doing all we can to balance the needs of all our stakeholders,” the company said.
The move expanded a 14-day delay Planet imposed in March, which had itself extended an initial 96-hour delay. The company said the delays were meant to keep adversaries from using its imagery to attack the U.S. and its allies. Earlier in the war, commercial imagery had let outlets including CNN, The New York Times and NPR document damage at U.S. bases and show that a strike on a girls' elementary school in Iran was part of a larger set of targets at a nearby military base. Planet later told NPR that its goal was “to get back to unrestricted access for all of our customers globally as soon as possible.” Nearly 60% of Planet's revenue in its last quarter came from defense and intelligence contracts, NPR reported.
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the withhold “will make it much more difficult to monitor US-Israeli bombing there, which seems to be the point.” Washington Post reporter Evan Hill said it cut reporters off from “one of the most important US-based commercial satellite imagery providers on whom most media outlets rely.” Victoria Samson of the Secure World Foundation told Space.com, “It seems that it's a way to impact the American public's ability to understand what's happening as opposed to having an impact on the battlefield,” and warned, “It probably will start a precedent that I don't think will be good for overall transparency.”
Correction (October 14, 2026): An earlier version said the administration “pressured” Planet Labs; the company and news agencies describe a U.S. government request, and the title has been changed to match. It also called March 9 “the start of the war”; the war began on February 28, and March 9 is the date from which imagery is withheld. A closing paragraph citing Pentagon casualty figures (“303 official vs. 750+ actual”) and new Pentagon media rules was removed because none of this entry's sources support it.