Ships linked to Iran have been hovering over subsea telecoms cables in the Middle East after Tehran threatened to attack cables and data centers if the US and Israel launch a fresh bombing campaign, reported the Financial Times on Friday.
At least four vessels tracked by the maritime analytics company Windward have been observed taking unusual routes and loitering over subsea cables traversing the Gulf of Oman in the days after Iran warned of disruption to digital infrastructure if the US escalated the conflict.
Three were tankers subject to US sanctions, while the fourth was a small Iranian fishing craft that loitered over the Europe India Gateway and Transworld cables between October 21 and 26, according to Windward data.
According to data from TeleGeography, six cables run through the Strait of Hormuz, while three more — Fiber in Gulf, Sea-Me-We 6 and 2Africa — are under construction. 2Africa is the closest to completion.
Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar are wholly dependent on cables running under the strait for their internet connectivity.
Tehran has been vocal in its threats against cables and data centers running through the Strait of Hormuz over the past month, in response to suggestions from US President Donald Trump and other senior US figures in the run-up to this week’s midterm elections that they would launch further attacks on Iran.
Hossein Mohebbi, spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on October 19: “Seven major undersea internet cables run through the Strait of Hormuz, carrying all commercial and internet data. We just want [the US] to realize that new targets and new weapons shall be unveiled.”
That echoed comments by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, a week earlier threatening that “data centers and artificial intelligence facilities will be destroyed”.
Yadollah Javani, deputy commander of the IRGC for political affairs, said later in October that assets “including internet cables” would be damaged in retaliation for attacks on Iran’s own infrastructure.
Masha Kotkin, a former US state department official and fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, said AI, cloud computing, data centers and other digital activities in the Gulf depended on subsea fiberoptic cables.
Any damage would result in “slower internet [and] financial transactions” and would “disrupt communications networks, ecommerce and cloud computing”, Kotkin said.
Connectivity is also a significant part of the Gulf countries’ efforts to diversify away from hydrocarbons and become a hub for digital businesses, Kotkin noted.
The US has continued to move military assets into the region. An aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was seen on satellite images in the South China Sea travelling towards Singapore early on Wednesday, potentially adding to two carriers already in the Middle East region.
