The US State department provided specific authorization empowering telecom companies (incl. Starlink) to operate in Iran and disregard local restrictions. If you can smuggle a dish into the country, you can use it. But the signal wouldn’t be too hard to detect, so it’s risky.
What about a special reduced uplink power mode, with only 128Kb of bandwidth for example? Additionally, you can conceal the dish from terrestrial detectors, by putting it in a forest clearing for example. Those two things combined might make it a lot more difficult for the Iranian government to find a Starlink dish.
They'll find you with a WiFi scan. Not with ELINT aircraft
I would guess because China and Russia are relevant markets for tesla...
I'd also guess that China and Russia are big enough that satellites would go unused a lot while flying over them.
While Iran isn't tiny (17th largest country), the satellites have several other territories nearby by that could use up the capacity that a no-Iran rule makes available.
The satellites fly over China and Russia either way. Starlink isn't geostationary, they're quite a few of them above you at any given time and place.
The situation in Iran is somewhat different. Despite being under heavy international sanctions and having a government that also exercises strict control over internet access, Iran saw the deployment of Starlink terminals following specific events, such as natural disasters or in response to certain socio-political situations. This deployment could be part of a broader strategy by the U.S. or other entities to provide uncensored internet access to the Iranian population during times of crisis. However, it's important to note that such deployments might be temporary, unofficial, or not fully sanctioned by the Iranian government.