US request prompts Planet Labs to withhold Iran war images

Akriti Sharma, Aaron Clark, Bloomberg News on Apr 5, 2026

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The Trump administration has asked satellite imagery providers to voluntarily withhold images of designated areas of interest due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, prompting Planet Labs PBC to restrict access to data from the region.

The San Francisco-based commercial satellite provider said on Sunday that the measures would apply retroactively from March 9 and are expected to remain in place until the conflict ends.

“These are extraordinary circumstances, and we are doing all we can to balance the needs of all our stakeholders,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as possible to minimize the impact on data availability to our customers.”

There was no immediate response from the Pentagon to a request for comment from Bloomberg News outside business hours on Sunday.

Planet Labs, which has contracts with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S. Navy, among others, is moving to a “managed access” model, extending publication delays for new imagery. It will release images of the designated areas only on a case-by-case basis, including in cases of “urgent, mission-critical requirements” or when deemed to be in the public interest.

The decision underscores the growing strategic role of commercial satellite operators in modern conflicts, where high-resolution imagery can influence military planning as quickly as it informs financial markets and the public. Once controlled by governments, Earth observation has evolved into a multibillion-dollar industry supplying near-real-time intelligence to clients worldwide.

The move follows tighter restrictions introduced last month, when Planet Labs increased commercial imagery delays from four days to two weeks, citing concerns that the data could be used to target NATO members. Back then, the company had said the temporary hold on imagery wasn’t the result of any government requirement.