The deputy to the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, has warned that Iran may target undersea internet cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz if the country’s infrastructure comes under attack, according to Iranian state broadcaster Press TV. Speaking in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam TV channel, Javani addressed the possibility of strikes against undersea internet infrastructure and said Iran would use its full capabilities if its own infrastructure is attacked. He argued that the United States and its allies have substantial investments in the area, a remark that appeared to point to the foreign commercial and strategic interests tied to the waterway. The warning is framed as conditional, meaning it is presented as a response to an attack on Iranian infrastructure rather than an announced plan. It follows similar remarks earlier in the week, when IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said on Monday that seven major cables pass beneath the Strait of Hormuz and that the world’s internet and commercial data depend on them, adding that Iran was reminding its adversaries of this fact, according to Iran International.
The comments add to a series of statements about the cables in recent months. In May, Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari said Iran would impose fees on internet cables, according to CNN, and Iranian state-linked media floated plans that would require technology companies to comply with Iranian law and cable operators to pay licensing fees for passage. Several major intercontinental cables run through the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf, linking Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and experts have warned that damage to them could affect banking systems, cloud services, and communications networks across multiple regions. At the same time, analysts have urged caution about the scale of any disruption. Alan Mauldin of telecoms research firm TeleGeography said earlier this year that Gulf states using the cables have several alternative communication routes, and TeleGeography data shows that cables traversing the Strait account for less than one percent of global international bandwidth as of 2025.
For now, the warning remains a statement of intent rather than an action, and there has been no confirmation of any attack on cable infrastructure in the Strait. The issue is still relevant for Pakistan, whose international internet connectivity depends on submarine cables that land in Karachi. These include AAE-1, SMW-4, and IMEWE, which are managed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), and SMW-5 and TWA-1, which are operated by Transworld Associates, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman told a Senate committee in January 2025 that the country relies on seven submarine cables. A branch of AAE-1 is among the cables that cross the Strait of Hormuz, although TeleGeography has said that data flowing between Europe and Asia does not pass through that branch, and the reports on the warning do not say how much of Pakistan’s traffic uses routes through the Strait.
The country has already seen how a fault can affect users, since damage to AAE-1 near Qatar slowed internet speeds across Pakistan in January 2025. Technology companies, cable operators, and governments will be watching closely for any move from words to action, since even limited damage to subsea cables can take time to repair and can force traffic onto longer or more congested routes.
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