The Strait of Hormuz - an important waterway for global oil transportation, also plays a vital role for the digital world. Many fiber optic cables are located under the seabed of the Strait of Hormuz, connecting countries from India and Southeast Asia to Europe through the Gulf countries and Egypt.
“In the proposed management model for the Strait of Hormuz, the use of submarine cables must be carried out through licenses and fee payments, and foreign companies must also operate under Iranian law,” Iran's FARS news agency said.
Furthermore, the management, repair and maintenance of these cables can be exclusively assigned to Iranian companies, so that the Strait of Hormuz becomes one of Iran's digital power levers," the news agency added.
Submarine fiber optic cables currently transmit about 99% of global Internet traffic. This is an essential infrastructure for cloud computing and online communication services.
According to FARS, in the context of Iran moving towards controlling underground Internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz, foreign operators may be forced to apply for Iranian licenses, pay transit fees and comply with Iranian law. These cables are transporting most of the global data traffic between Europe, the Gulf and Asia.
Iran also wants the entire management and maintenance of cable lines to be carried out exclusively by domestic companies.
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) previously warned that it could target submarine cable infrastructure used by Gulf countries for the Internet, banking services and cloud computing.
