Iran International
Iranian jamming of GPS devices aims to baffle Israeli drones and missiles after a punishing wave of assassinations in a war last month, but now mostly thwarts daily commutes and food deliveries for ordinary citizens.
“If you look at the map, you sometimes find yourself tens or even hundreds of kilometers from your real location—sometimes in another country or even in the middle of the Caspian Sea!” said Amir-Ali, a company accountant in Tehran.
Another Tehran resident said friends were nearly stranded after a navigation app misled them. “They ended up in a remote valley far from the usual trail. Luckily, they made it back before dark.”
Lost drivers, cold meals
“Even ordering food has become a pain,” said Taraneh, a language instructor. “Drivers can’t find you or show up at the wrong place. By the time it gets to you—if it does—it’s cold or your lunch break is over.”
Elham, also in Tehran, said she spent over 30 minutes guiding a delivery driver who kept circling the neighborhood. “I was directing him down dead ends and one-way streets. It was maddening.”
Public transportation hasn’t been spared.
A commuter told the Sharq newspaper that both he and his bus appeared in the wrong location on the app, causing delays. A bus driver said his GPS took him off route while covering for a colleague.
“I only realized something was wrong when passengers started complaining,” he said.
Even religious routines have been affected, with worshippers across Iran reporting botched timing for calls to prayer.
“Automated call-to-prayer systems rely on GPS to determine location,” said network expert Ali Rad. “If they receive incorrect signals, they may miscalculate the time and broadcast too early or too late.”
Spoofing comes home
GPS jamming involves blocking signals while spoofing sends false ones. Both are military tools used to confuse enemy drones, hide troop movements or disrupt missiles. Iran has long deployed both but seldom so broadly.
In 2011, Tehran said it diverted a US drone using spoofing. It was also suspected of GPS interference during a period of heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf in 2019-2020.
Israel has used similar methods. In late 2023, the Israeli military acknowledged GPS restrictions in combat zones to disrupt enemy targeting.
The interference sometimes spilled over into civilian devices, triggering widespread signal errors.
During peak hostilities in June, flight-tracking platforms like Flightradar24 recorded major GPS disruptions over Iran and neighboring airspace.
Pilots reported signal loss and instrument malfunctions, prompting airlines to reroute flights.
At sea—especially in the Strait of Hormuz—spoofed signals caused ships to veer off course or appear to sail over land. Over 1,600 vessels per day were affected, according to The Guardian.
Shipping companies paused nighttime operations. The economic fallout was swift: supply chain disruptions, delays and rising insurance costs dogged the industry.
What began as a military tactic is now reshaping daily life in Iran, compounding already grave economic and security worries among ordinary Iranians.
