Iran threatens 'world's internet' in terrifying 'reminder to the enemy'

Iran has issued a chilling warning to the world over crucial internet cables lying under the Strait of Hormuz. The vital shipping lane has been at the centre of the Middle East crisis with an Iranian blockade causing major disruption to the global supply of oil . Tehran has increased its attacks on ships in an effort to assert greater control of the Strait in the face of US attempts to shepherd tankers through. Now the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have made an alarming reference to vital cables that run across the bottom of the Strait carrying internet and commercial data.

IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebi said: "Seven major cables have passed under the Strait of Hormuz, all of which the world's internet and commercial data depend on; we are reminding them of this so that the enemy knows." It is true that there are at least seven cables which lie beneath the sea in the Strait and that cutting them would cause major disruption for the region's connectivity. But, while more than 90% of data capacity between Europe and Asia passes through cables under the Red Sea, research firm TeleGeography , says the Strait of Hormuz cables mainly serves Gulf countries.

The company states: "The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial artery, not only for the transit of oil and cargo but also for the data flowing through submarine cables on the seafloor." It added: "Beyond the Gulf countries, there is not much risk to Europe-Asia data traffic from hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz. Europe-Asia cables traverse the Red Sea, no closer than about 900 miles from the Strait." In a separate threat Mohebi also posted on X what appeared to be an AI-generated image of a missile, captioned "The world will see what will happen."

Iran has previously threatened that it was ready to look at different ways to target the United States and its allies. Semi-official state media channels Tasnim and Fars had previously said that Iran could charge countries to use the internet cables that are under the Strait of Hormuz which could bring in hundreds of millions of pounds each year. They are similar threats to previous Iranian statements saying that they want to charge shipping.

The Iran-US conflict has spread to other parts of the Middle East with notable attacks in Yemen from Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Last week, at least 53 soldiers in a military camp were killed by ballistic missiles in one of the deadliest attacks since a resurgence in fighting this summer, Yemeni military officials said. The Houthis have put their growing military capabilities on display on multiple fronts in recent weeks, repeatedly striking Saudi Arabia’s main international airport hundreds of miles away and seizing territory inside Yemen near a key shipping chokepoint.

And Iran is trying to hit military sites in Britain with the suspected plot to attack a US-run military air base in September “not unique,” the head of the MI5 spy agency said. He warned that both Tehran and Moscow are expanding their attacks against the UK. Ken McCallum, who leads the UK’s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country’s Islamic authorities.

That has included arson and sabotage attacks on Jewish sites that Britain says were carried out by Iranian proxies. McCallum said another “major shift this year has been Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites.”