Iran hints it could interfere with submarine cables in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran appears to have again threatened to disrupt submarine cables in the Strait of Hormuz. An X account that uses the handle Ibrahim_alFiqar and claims to represent senior Iranian military command last week posted a missive that translates as We will impose fees on internet cables." That's presumably a threat to charge operators of submarine cables a fee to avoid some kind of disruption. Builders of submarine cables typically try to route their cables through deep water, to make them harder to reach. Iran, however, operates a fleet of torpedo-capable submarines and the Strait is famously shallow. Another X account that claims to represent a media outlet called Iran Times, and which uses the image of the same military spokesperson, yesterday warned There are fears that Iran could use the global internet's submarine communication cables as a new pressure tactic following the Strait of Hormuz blockade" and pointed out that if anything happened to cables in the Strait it could affect banking networks, military communications, AI cloud systems, online services, and global commerce." Disruption can follow any submarine cable outage. The cables that pass through the Strait terminate in gulf nations, and some of them have two paths through the strategic waterway. Some of those cables also have a landing point in Oman - well to the east of the Strait. Gulf nations also connect operate terrestrial fiber links, some of which link to those cable landing points in Oman. If Iran chose kinetic action against all cables in the Strait, packets would still likely flow out of the gulf over optical links, but it's also conceivable that available bandwidth between the region and the rest of the world would decline. It would be tempting to declare that Iran's scant remarks on this topic are bluster were it not for Tehran's claim that it deliberately targeted AWS datacenters due to tenants hosting defense-related workloads within their walls. Iran is clearly aware that attacking information infrastructure can assist its war effort, and that its ability to project force into the Strait of Hormuz means it can try to control the flow of ships, and bits. Indeed, accounts connected to Tehran have today announced a new maritime insurance scheme that requires payment in cryptocurrency. Ships seldom move unless they're insured, but insurance companies are currently not issuing policies as they fear attempts to traverse the Strait will end badly. (R)