Iran's Bold Move to Control Undersea Internet Cables in the Strait of Hormuz
IRGC-linked media are pushing Tehran to impose transit fees on submarine fibre-optic cables running through the Strait of Hormuz, potentially reshaping global internet governance.
The Strait of Hormuz has long been recognized as the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, with roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passing through its narrow waters. But a new front is opening beneath the waves — one that could reshape how the internet itself flows between continents.
A Digital Power Grab
IRGC-linked media outlets in Iran, including Tasnim News Agency and Fars News Agency, are publicly pushing for Tehran to impose transit fees on the submarine fibre-optic cables that crisscross the Strait of Hormuz’s seabed. The proposal is ambitious: charge international consortia that own and operate the cables, offer maintenance services under Iranian oversight, and require tech giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon to operate under Iranian regulations.
Mostafa Taheri, a member of Iran’s parliamentary Industries Commission, has estimated potential revenues from such transit fees at up to $15 billion. For a country under heavy sanctions and embroiled in a fragile post-ceasefire environment, that kind of money is impossible to ignore.
What’s at Stake
At least seven major communication cables pass through the strait, according to Tasnim. These include the FALCON, GBI, and Gulf-TGN systems — infrastructure that connects data centres across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. These cables carry cloud services, financial messaging systems including SWIFT, and a significant share of global internet traffic.
Sever or control these cables, and the consequences ripple far beyond the Persian Gulf. Financial transactions slow. Cloud services stutter. Internet traffic between continents gets rerouted through longer, more expensive paths.
The Legal Question
The legal foundation for Iran’s claims is shaky at best. Iranian outlets cite the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), arguing that the strait’s narrow geography places its seabed under Iranian and Omani jurisdiction. There’s a catch, though: UNCLOS includes a transit passage principle that specifically protects the uninterrupted flow of international navigation and communications. And Iran has signed UNCLOS but never actually ratified it.
Submarine cables are owned by international consortia, and any attempt to impose fees or monitor data traffic would face immediate legal and political resistance from virtually every major power.
A Pattern of Digital Control
These proposals haven’t emerged in a vacuum. Iran has been systematically restricting its own population’s access to the global internet, a crackdown that predates the current conflict. NetBlocks reported this week that Iran’s internet blackout has entered its 76th day. The government-backed alternatives have produced surveillance, corruption, and scams rather than open connectivity.
Iran’s Communications Minister acknowledged in April that around 10 million people depend on stable digital access for their livelihoods, and that the shutdown is costing businesses 600 billion tomans daily. The cable fee proposals follow the same pattern: treating digital infrastructure as an instrument of state control rather than a public good.
The Broader Context
The strait, which separates Iran from Oman, is roughly 22 kilometres wide at its narrowest point. Iran effectively closed it to commercial shipping when the war with the US and Israel began in February. The US Navy imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports on April 13. A ceasefire has been in place since April 8, but President Trump described it this week as having a “one percent chance” of surviving.
Against this backdrop, the cable proposals are both a revenue play and a pressure tactic. They signal that Iran is thinking beyond oil and shipping — toward the digital arteries that keep the modern world running.
Why It Matters
The internet’s physical infrastructure is surprisingly fragile. Submarine cables carry over 95% of intercontinental data traffic. Most people never think about them until something goes wrong. Iran’s proposal, even if it never becomes reality, highlights a vulnerability that policymakers have been slow to address.
As the Asia Times noted, the next attack on the global economy may not arrive with a missile strike or a cyberattack on a server farm. It may arrive as silence — the sudden quiet of severed fibre-optic cables on the ocean floor, cut by a vessel whose crew claims it was an accident.
For now, the proposals remain just that: proposals. But they’ve put the world on notice that the Strait of Hormuz isn’t just about oil anymore. It’s about the internet itself.