Hello John and Doves,I haven't been concerned about undersea cables in the Middle East until I found out how many are there and how important they are to the whole global internet.There is a network of fiber-optic cables that run across the seabed of the Strait of Hormuz an the Red Sea...these carry large volumes of global internet traffic - connecting Asia, the Middle East and Europe. And these are in danger of being damaged during this war.And Iran has threated to cut these undersea internet cables to their neighbors.I also wrote about the Iranian regime cutting off all but about 1% of the Iranian people from the internet. No google. No X. Etc. Just government control and their propaganda that is allowed access to the internet.The Fiber-Optic Cables in the Middle East:The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important maritime trade corridors on Earth."Seventeen submarine cables cross the Persian Gulf carrying 30% of global internet traffic. An escalating Middle East conflict puts all of them at risk.""..97% of all intercontinental interna traffic, and approximately 80% of US military communications, travel though physical cables lying on the ocean floor. Those cables are fragile, slow to repair, and increasingly in the crosshairs of geopolitical conflict. The Middle East conflict of 2026 have brought renewed attention to a set of undersea cables that pass through one of the most strategically contested bodies of water on earth: the Strait of Hormuz.""The Persian Gulf and surrounding waters host several critical undersea cable routes:EPEG (Europe-Persia Express Gateway): A 25,000 km cable connecting Europe to the Middle East and onward to India and Southeast Asia. Passes through the Persian Gulf.OMRAN: A 600 km cable connecting Oman to Iran. One of Iran's primary connections to the global internet.UAE-Iran cables: Several shorter cables connecting UAE exchange points to Iranian landing staitons - part of the routing infrastructure that was disrupted in the February 2026 attacks.SMW5 (SeaMeWe-5): One of the world's longest submarine cable systems, connecting Singapore to France via the Middle East. Any disruption in Gulf waters affect this route.Disruptions can happen through "deliberate attack, collateral damage from naval operations, or anchors dragged by vessels during conflict...""The Strait is narrowed, the cable concentration is higher and the geopolitical content makes rapid repair operations far more dangerous.""The US, UK, China, and Russia are all actively mapping, monitoring, and - in some cases - physically accessing undersea cable infrastructure....The US and UK operate specialized naval vessels capable of tapping undersea cables...Russia's submarine activity near cable routes has been documented by NATO.""The cables that carry your application's traffic are simultaneously critical infrastructure, intelligence collection assets and military targets.""The conflict in the Middle East is a reminder that the physical internet has physical vulnerabilities."
30% of Global Internet Runs Through Gulf Cables Iran Could Target | Abhishek Gautam"More than 20 million barrels of crude, condensate and fuels passed through the strait daily last year on average...Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strain, mainly to Asia. Qatar, among the world's largest liquified natural gas exporters, sends almost all of its LNG through the strait."About one-fifth of the consumed global oil was shipped through the strait...until Iran threatened the tankers going through the strait."U.S. intelligence estimates Iran has stockpiled as many as 6,000 mines, including drifting, limpet, bottom and moored mines. Floating and naval mines pose a severe asymmetric threat in these confined waters." The threat of attack on tankers remains credible.
Some companies have tried to avoid disruptions: For example, SMW5 (SeaMeWe-5) has attempted to mitigate major disruptions with their cable system that connects Asia, Europe and Africa by resorting to 'terrestrial' architecture - going through Saud Arabia.Rerouting over land still have its geopolitical issues. But the sea cables also have repair issues with the ongoing war: "Both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea are effectively "no-go zones" for commercial cable repair vessels." The areas are just "too risky"."It took nearly half a year to repair the four major subsea cables cut in the Red Sea in February 2024..the response time to several existing outages and future outages in the region could be catastrophic."How can this affect countries?Their AI data centers suck down the energy: "...the war has sent energy costs soaring, directly impacting the economics of power-hungry data centers.One example is India. India "has set its sights on becoming a $270 billion data center hub...a date center hub of this scale is critically dependent on international subsea cables for traffic routing and data exchange with global markets....If the Stair of Hormuz closure persists, India's AI ambitions may face not only soaring power costs but also degraded international connectivity - a double blow to its digital aspirations.With the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz in war zones, they can no longer be "relied upon as safe arteries for global data infrastructure....the international community is now racing to construct alternative, more resilient digital highways...." Possibilities include beneath the Arctic ice or land routes in northern Russia. Do countries want to be dependent on Russian-controlled infrastructure? Going through Russia would be "the quickest and most economical was to restore secure Eurasia conductivity."The Iranian Regime Disconnected the People From The Internet:And then the Iranian regime purposefully cut the internet to its own people. Iran has a National Information Network...this is "designed to prevent public access to global network and provide a national internet." Google is unavailable to the people. But government sites and banking services are operational. "This allows the state to retain extensive control over citizens' online activities. It is also a way to protect the regime from international scrutiny.""By creating an information vacuum, they seek to ensure only the official narrative circulates domestically."One example of this control of information was highlighted by Milad Alavi, a journalist in Tehran, who sent out a "tweet via an Open VPN file...."Internet in Iran, whether fixed or mobile is cut off. We are left in the dark and on state TV, Iran is on the verge of conquering Tel Aviv and Washington!". No internet is very dangerous to civilians in Iran as the Israeli IDF often issues evacuation warnings before strikes - the people are unable to receive these warnings.Iranian officials, however, are still internet connected. The Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghechi was bragging about this a few days ago. So these government officials can post whatever on X - trying to turn the Western public against President Trump, Netanyahu and the West. An example is a post by Araghechi "Trump has turned "America First" into "Israel First" - which always means "America Last.". And various posts that push the loss of American lives in exchange for Israel's expansionist aspirations. Trying to manipulate the American public.We are seeing quite a bit of anti-Israel, anti-President Trump talk lately - especially reports that Israel 'talked' Trump into pursuing this war.The internet can be used for good and for bad. Nothing coming out of Iran's government can be considered truthful....they lie and deceive to get what they want. And if it looks like a US 'victory'....I think Iran will feel it's time to unleash the 'apocalypse' that brings back their Mahdi.Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!Maranatha!Chance