Iran strikes again: demands toll fees from Google, Meta, and Amazon for submarine cables, or threatens to cut off the internet

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Blocking the Strait of Hormuz is old news; Iran is now turning its sights to undersea cables. A military spokesperson has publicly announced plans to levy tolls on tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, with state media issuing veiled threats of cutting connections if they refuse to pay. (Recap: IRGC: The Strait of Hormuz is already blockaded! Any vessel that dares pass through will be burned) (Background: Iran launches "Hormuz Security" maritime insurance platform accepting Bitcoin and USDT payments; U.S. Treasury warns: anyone who dares will face sanctions) After locking down the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has found new leverage. Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari stated directly on X earlier this month: "We will impose fees on internet cables." Media affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) quickly followed up, demanding that tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon comply with Iranian law. Submarine cable companies must pay transit permit fees, and the rights to repair and maintain the cables shall be granted exclusively to Iranian enterprises. State media further issued implicit threats: if the cables are damaged, the trillions of dollars in daily global data transmission and internet connectivity passing through them will all be affected. Several major intercontinental submarine cables traverse the Strait of Hormuz. Due to Iran's long-standing security risks, international operators deliberately bypass Iranian waters and concentrate most of the cables in a narrow zone closer to the Omani side. However, Alan Mauldin, Research Director at telecommunications research firm TeleGeography, points out that two cables, "Falcon" and "Gulf Bridge International," do pass through Iranian territorial waters. Some tech companies have invested in cables in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, but it remains unclear whether these cables pass through Iranian waters. Since U.S. sanctions prohibit payments to Iran, companies may currently treat Iran's statements as political pressure rather than serious policy. Research by Mostafa Ahmed, Senior Researcher at the UAE's Al Habtoor Research Centre, shows that the IRGC is equipped with combat divers, mini-submarines, and underwater drones, posing a substantial threat to submarine cables. Once attacked, this could trigger a "cascading digital catastrophe" spanning multiple continents. Persian Gulf nations across from the Strait of Hormuz would face severe internet outages, with oil and gas exports and the banking industry potentially affected. India could see a large amount of internet traffic impacted, threatening its massive outsourcing industry with losses reaching billions of dollars. If Iran's proxy militias take similar action in the Red Sea, the damage would be even more devastating. In 2024, Yemen's Houthi armed forces severed three submarine cables when a struck vessel dragged its anchor, causing approximately 25% of the region's internet traffic to be disrupted—a precedent already in place. TeleGeography's data provides a key coolant: as of 2025, cables passing through Hormuz account for less than 1% of global international bandwidth. In other words, even if Iran actually takes action, the direct impact on overall global internet traffic would be relatively limited. But repair is the hidden concern. Iran's situation makes cable repairs exponentially more difficult: repair ships must remain stationary while working on-site, posing extremely high risks. Of the 5 repair ships typically operating in the region, only 1 remains in the Persian Gulf. Iranian media cite the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as legal grounds, arguing that the fees are lawful. Article 79 of UNCLOS stipulates that coastal states have the right to set conditions on cables or pipelines entering their territory or territorial waters. Although Iran has signed but not yet ratified the treaty, the legal community still considers it binding as customary international law. Iranian media cite Egypt as a precedent: Cairo has leveraged the Suez Canal's strategic position to dominate a large number of submarine cables connecting Europe and Asia, earning hundreds of millions of dollars annually from transit and licensing fees. However, Irini Papanicolopulu, Professor of International Law at SOAS, University of London, cut straight to the difference: "The Suez Canal is an artificial waterway; the Strait of Hormuz is a natural strait—the legal frameworks are entirely different. Existing cables must of course comply with the contracts signed when they were originally laid. But for new cables, any country, including Iran, can decide whether and under what conditions to allow the cables to enter its territorial waters."

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