Iran Threatens to Cut Undersea Cables in the Strait of Hormuz
Iran, through IRGC-affiliated media, has warned of potential actions against undersea internet cables in the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz, including charging fees or implementing cuts.
Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari publicly stated that fees would be imposed on internet cables, requiring companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to comply with Iranian laws and pay for passage permits, with repair rights limited to Iranian enterprises.
Shipping and tech companies in the market are accelerating diversification of cable routes and satellite backups. Iran is using digital choke points to pressure funding flows towards crypto and parallel networks, putting short-term pressure on Gulf financial and data centers reliant on Hormuz cables, while satellite communication providers benefit.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Iran has previously demonstrated its control over physical choke points through oil blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. This time, the focus on undersea cables continues the asymmetric strategy of "maximum pressure." The IRGC has repeatedly highlighted the vulnerability of key cable routes as a deterrent against potential conflicts.
In terms of capital pathways, Iran combines geographic control of undersea cables with state media narratives, attempting to extract fees from global tech giants and nationalize repair rights. The motivation is to build parallel digital infrastructure to bypass SWIFT and Western sanctions, while transforming cable threats into negotiation leverage and revenue sources, shifting resources from physical geography to digital geography.
Similar to Russia's control over European gas pipelines and indirect risks to Red Sea cables, as well as Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, Iran is positioning itself as a dominant player in global digital choke points, pushing the Middle East from an energy bottleneck to a data bottleneck strategy.
Structural judgment: This essentially represents regulatory changes (geopolitical rule reshaping). Undersea cables are highly concentrated in narrow strategic waterways, allowing physical control to translate into digital pricing power. The mechanism relies on global internet traffic depending on a few geographic nodes. Iran's public threats extend traditional military deterrence into the information domain, forcing international capital to reconfigure from Western-dominated infrastructure to diversified routes, satellite backups, and encrypted parallel networks.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Oil chokes, cables choke data.
The narrower the choke point, the greater the threat leverage.
Cut the physical first, then the digital reliance.