Iran demands Big Tech pay fees for undersea Internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/iran-demands-big-tech-pay-fees-for-undersea-internet-cables-in-strait-of-hormuz/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_social-type=owned

But Tasnim and Fars, both Iranian state-linked media channels, laid out more detailed proposals on how Iran could charge license fees to US tech giants for the use and maintenance of undersea cables carrying regional Internet traffic, according to The Guardian. For example, the Tasnim plan described charging tech companies—specifically naming Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—license fees for cable usage while also claiming that Iran alone has the right to repair and maintain the subsea cables.

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The vast majority of damage to undersea cables comes from commercial ships accidentally dragging their anchors or fishing trawlers dragging weighted nets along the seafloor. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a more innocuous-looking Iranian ship to sneakily perform some subsea cable sabotage if it’s willing to run the gauntlet of US military surveillance and patrols in the strait.

Even a damaged commercial ship abandoned in the strait could end up dragging its anchor across some cables, as was the case with a drifting ship that damaged three cables following an attack by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea in 2024.

However, the greatest threat to subsea cable infrastructure in the Strait of Hormuz may simply come from delays in any necessary cable repairs in the region. Such jobs require specialized ships to find the damaged area and lower grappling hooks to lift up the cable for inspection and repair, according to BBC News. That repair process can require days or sometimes weeks, which would leave the ship vulnerable to Iranian missiles, drones, or fast boats that have continued to attack commercial shipping in and around the strait.