Widespread GPS Disruption in Iran; Navigation App 'Neshan' Manager Warns of Threat to Human Lives

Widespread GPS disruption in various cities across Iran has caused issues for navigation apps and ride-hailing services. This problem has previously resulted in the loss of lives and has now reached a peak. According to a report from the public relations department of the navigation app 'Neshan', Iran experienced the 'most extensive GPS disruption to date' on Sunday, June 3. The public relations department of 'Neshan' emphasized that the GPS disruption issue has previously led to decreased performance of navigation apps and related mapping applications, which has increased in recent months, but on Sunday 'it reached a point where using navigation apps has become practically impossible for users.' Behzad Kazemi, a senior engineer on the 'Neshan' navigation team, stated that the team, through 'modular analysis' for 'detecting and reporting GPS spoofing', has identified 'disruption patterns' in various regions of the country, especially in several major cities. According to the report, the cause of the disruption remains unclear as before. However, users, including ride-hailing drivers, are facing 'serious problems' in navigation, with multiple reports of disruptions reaching support. Users have complained that while their location was in Tehran, for example, the map showed a location in Qom or Isfahan, making navigation impossible. Numerous reports of GPS disruption have also been published on social media. For instance, journalist Ehsan Badaghi shared an image of his navigation app on social media X, stating that while he was in Islamshahr according to the map in the 'morning', it showed his location in Isfahan hours later. Javad Amel, the manager of the map and navigation team at 'Neshan', also noted examples of problems caused by GPS disruption for people, writing: 'Emergency services get confused without location tracking, and a life may be lost! A taxi driver stuck in traffic has a longer route and a smaller income. A young woman relying on the navigation app passes through an unfamiliar neighborhood and gets lost. And it is unclear why only Iranian citizens are grappling with GPS spoofing?' Disruption in the GPS system has previously led to the disappearance of several mountaineers in the mountains around Tehran, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 of them.