Reuters: Two senior Iranian security officials said Iran has drawn up detailed
plans to strike undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the US or Israel
attacks, and could impede repairs to prolong outages. One official warned that
if Iran is attacked "there will be no red lines", with submarine cables and
military bases potentially at risk. The IRGC deputy for political affairs
previously threatened strikes on seven main internet cables under the Strait of
Hormuz, and a senior security official warned US-linked data centers and AI
facilities in the Gulf could be targeted. Damage to cables could disrupt
regional internet access, financial transactions, e-commerce and cloud services.
TeleGeography head of research Alan Mauldin said the Strait of Hormuz carries
under 1% of global international bandwidth, so global impact is likely limited,
but regional outages and wartime repair difficulties are material. The Red Sea
is also a potential risk area, though Iran has not publicly said it would target
cables there.
