Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is now signaling that the Strait of Hormuz fight could move below the waterline, saying fiber-optic internet cables through the waterway could be brought under Iranian permits, supervision, and tolls.
Al Jazeera reported Tuesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said fibre-optic cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz could be placed under a permit system as Tehran tightens control over the waterway. The IRGC framed the move as an extension of Iran’s claimed sovereignty over the bed and subsoil of its territorial sea.
Xinhua, citing the IRGC’s official Sepah News outlet, reported the same core claim: Iran could declare all fiber-optic cables passing through Hormuz subject to its permit, supervision, and toll after exercising management over maritime traffic in the strait.
That is a sharper new angle than the earlier cable-risk story. List25 has already covered the danger that fighting around Hormuz could damage undersea cables. This development is different because Iran is now discussing regulatory and revenue control over the cables themselves, not only the risk that they could be accidentally cut.
The Digital Chokepoint Is Back In Play
The Strait of Hormuz is usually discussed as an energy chokepoint because about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade normally moves through it. But it is also a communications corridor. Undersea fiber-optic systems carry internet traffic, financial messages, cloud traffic, and business data between the Gulf, South Asia, Europe, and other regions.
TIME reported Tuesday that Iranian lawmakers have discussed charging companies such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft annual fees for cables running beneath the strait. TIME also noted an important limit: Iran has not yet adopted an official policy or passed legislation requiring fees or permits for subsea cables.
That caveat matters. This is not a confirmed cable shutdown. It is a threat, signal, and possible bargaining tool. But in a crisis where Iran has already tried to turn maritime transit into leverage, even the discussion of cable permits adds another pressure point.
Repair Operations Are Already A Concern
The National reported Monday that Iranian media and military figures have discussed fees on internet cables, and that maritime intelligence firm Windward said Alcatel Submarine Networks had paused regional repair operations. The National said Alcatel had not responded to requests for comment.
That is the practical risk. The most immediate danger may not be Iran cutting cables. It may be cable operators, insurers, and repair crews deciding that the area is too politically and militarily uncertain to work in quickly.
The International Cable Protection Committee told The National that Hormuz is important for regional connectivity, while also warning that some reports overstate the global internet impact. It said, citing TeleGeography analysis, that bandwidth crossing the Strait of Hormuz accounts for less than one percent of global international bandwidth. The point is not that the whole internet would go dark. The point is that Gulf states and nearby markets could face serious regional disruption if repairs slow or multiple faults pile up.
Why Iran Would Talk About Cable Tolls Now
The timing is not random. President Donald Trump said he delayed a planned attack on Iran after Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates asked for more time for negotiations. Iran, meanwhile, is trying to show that talks do not mean surrender and that it still has leverage if Washington keeps threatening new strikes.
Turning cable routes into a permit-and-toll issue fits that strategy. It lets Tehran argue that Hormuz is not only a shipping lane but a broader sovereign corridor that foreign companies and governments use for free. That message is aimed at Washington, Gulf capitals, shipping firms, and technology companies at the same time.
It also complicates the diplomacy. A deal over Hormuz already has to address shipping, sanctions, insurance, naval escorts, and Iran’s nuclear program. Adding internet-cable permits to the same pressure map gives Iran another way to raise the cost of a failed settlement without firing a missile.
The Risk Is Bigger Than Symbolism
Undersea cable systems are designed with redundancy, but repairs are slow even in peaceful conditions. The National noted that cable repairs can take weeks, and TIME reported that security risks can stretch repair timelines even further. In a war zone or quasi-blockade environment, permissions, insurance, escort arrangements, and crew safety become part of the repair problem.
For Gulf economies that depend on finance, logistics, cloud services, artificial intelligence projects, and data centers, that is not a niche technical issue. It is infrastructure risk. A delayed repair can mean slower networks, higher latency, and more pressure on backup routes.
The important line is this: no credible report says Iran has cut Hormuz internet cables. But the IRGC’s new permit-and-toll language shows Tehran is willing to put the digital infrastructure under the same political shadow as tankers and warships.
That makes the latest development genuinely new. The Hormuz crisis is no longer only about whether ships can pass. It is increasingly about whether Iran can make the world’s invisible infrastructure negotiate, too.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Xinhua, The National, TIME.