Iran Has Gulf Cable Strike Plans, Aims to Block Repairs — SkimNews
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- Iran has drawn up detailed plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel attack again, and one of two senior security officials said Tehran would aim to prevent repairs after attacks to prolong communications disruptions.
- Yadollah Javani, the IRGC deputy head of political affairs, said on Wednesday (October 21) that Iran could target seven major internet cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz if Iranian infrastructure came under attack; another official claimed Iran has full access to the cables and could easily destroy them.
- Alan Mauldin, research director at TeleGeography, said less than 1% of international bandwidth passes through the Strait of Hormuz, even though undersea cables carry around 99% of global internet traffic, according to the International Telecommunication Union.
- Red Sea routes carry about 3% of global international demand and around 10% of traffic between Europe, East Africa and Asia, making it a more significant target than Hormuz if Iran had Houthi support in Yemen — though Tehran has made no public statement indicating plans to attack cables there.
- Mohsen Rezaei, a top security official, warned this month that U.S.-linked digital infrastructure across the Gulf, including data centres and AI facilities, could be targeted in a renewed conflict.
- Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE were directly hit by Iranian strikes in March and infrastructure near one of its facilities in Bahrain was damaged; the IRGC named Microsoft, Google, Apple and Nvidia as legitimate targets at the height of the war.
- Microsoft plans to invest more than $400 million in subsea and terrestrial connectivity across West Asia by 2030, as Gulf governments invest heavily in technology to diversify beyond oil and build AI hubs — and one Iranian official said those governments should hold Washington, not Tehran, responsible for any cable damage.
Why it matters: Less than 1% of international bandwidth passes through the Strait of Hormuz, so this is less about severing the world's internet than about exposure for Gulf investment. Microsoft's $400 million West Asia connectivity plan and the region's AI build-out sit in the line of fire, and an Iranian official wants Gulf governments to hold Washington, not Tehran, responsible for damage.
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