This file photo shows president of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Damon Wilson.
Press TV
The US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) deployed around 200 Starlink devices in Iran during recent riots, NED president Damon Wilson has revealed at a congressional hearing, before representatives cut him off, saying the topic shouldn’t be discussed.
Wilson said Tuesday NED “began supporting the deployment [and] operation of about 200 Starlinks early on” amid the riots, but Representative Lois Frankel interrupted him, saying, “You know what, I am going to interrupt you, we better not talk about it.”
Founded by the CIA, NED claims to support political and civil society initiatives abroad. Wilson also said the organization helped shape media coverage of Mahsa Amini’s death in Tehran in September 2022, which sparked foreign-backed riots in Iran.
Amini was an Iranian woman who died at the hospital days after she collapsed at a police station in Tehran in September 2022. Foreign-sponsored riots broke out in Iran following her death.
“NED partners helped cover that story, get it out to the world, and get it back into Iran,” he said.
He presented the organization also as a key force behind the recent riots in September when armed rioters went on rampage in several Iranian cities, killing police and civilians and torching mosques and other public and private property.
The NED president further detailed collaborations with NGOs and media networks, saying the organization had amplified stories blaming the Iranian government for mismanaging resources like water in Tehran.
The protests that erupted in early January 2026 were initially peaceful over economic grievances, including currency devaluation, but escalated into violent riots when foreign-backed actors intervened.
According to police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan, detainees confessed to receiving payments in dollars from abroad and carrying weapons and explosives to attack their targets.
Reports indicate that militants linked to Israel’s Mossad, as well as separatist groups based in northern Iraq, infiltrated the initially peaceful protests, targeting government buildings, police stations, marketplaces, and religious sites.
The riots caused the destruction of hundreds of mosques, government offices, and other public infrastructure.
Wilson also boasted of NED campaigns abroad, including efforts to influence Bolivia’s government to prevent Russian control over lithium and media training in Nicaragua aimed at undermining the administration.
NED, founded in 1982 under CIA oversight, has consistently interfered in sovereign nations under the guise of promoting democracy.
Co-founder Allen Weinstein admitted in 1991 that “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”
Wilson appeared proud of that legacy, describing NED’s recent programs in Iran as the organization’s “fastest-growing program” and one of its largest globally.
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