Can Iran Control Internet Cables in the Gulf? || May 22, 2026
We've previously discussed the vulnerabilities of global internet infrastructure, but today we'll focus on subsea data cables in the Persian Gulf.
Global data traffic depends on undersea cables that carry massive amounts of information between continents. Iran has now decided it wants the ability to control and charge for data traffic moving through the region (mirroring its stance on shipping through the Strait). Many Gulf countries built separate subsea infrastructure, so all of them are exposed to disruption.
These vulnerabilities will likely push more communications toward satellite systems like Starlink, but that opens a whole new set of challenges. Another reminder of the fragility of globalization.
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Comments (37)
I would like to see some commentary on the data cable issue as a part of international law regarding free passage on the high seas and how the SoH is part of that. Not only that but how the same applies to things like, um, pipelines. Can it be considered an act of war if a country blocks free passage? Cuts cables? Destroys satellites? I think there is a case to be made especially regarding critical items.
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Whether you like him or not, Elon Musk must be smiling.
What is the way out? This looks like it will go on and on .... and on. When uncle Vlad extends his nuclear umbrella over Iran, then they will start pushing back: watch out kurds, watch out saudi etc etc. I hope that I am reading this wrong.
We bombed and sanctioned Saddam for 12 years without toppling his regime. And we had a MUCH bigger military then than we do now. His regime survived until we rolled in boots and bayonetes. That is the only way you really change a regime. Of course, Pottery Barn Rules. It is my belief, that the plan is now, and always has been (in certain circles) that step by step the US should be herded into a position where we must either face a humiliating public defeat, or mount a full-scale ground invasion with the accompanying 20 year nation-building occupation. But Iran is 1.5x the size of Iraq and Afghanistan...combined. Invest in body-bag stocks. We've seen that movie. We know how it ends. Trumpstein may only now be realizing how he was played, but played he has been. My only hope is he declares victory after the next big attack and gives himself a fake medal and sails off to Cuba. It will still be a Galactic sized hot mess, but we first have to get the toddler with a flame-thrower out of the region so adults can get in there and work something out. We will certainly end up worse of than when we started. But no problem is so bad that a toddler with a flame-thrower can't make worse given enough time and resources.
Then why are the Saudis and other Gulf states telling the US not to resume strikes?
Maybe they are out of sufficient interceptors to withstand the retaliatory missile attack from the missiles that are definitely not "obliterated". And they've seen the US does NOT have as much capability to shield them as we implied. Maybe they deeply suspect Trumpstein is getting bored and will declare victory and sail for Cuba after one last big attack, leaving them to clean up the mess. They have to live there after the toddler with a flame-thrower is done.
How well is Iran connected electronically over land to their prime oil customers China and Russia?
1. There's an Australian author who writes under the pen name FX Holden. (It's the name of an old Aussie car.) He writes about what war might look like in the near future in most of his books and covers a lot of the same tech topics Peter talks about. https://fxholden.com/books 2. Starlink is the best-known ("Elon Effect") and probably has the most sats. But they're not the only company providing internet-via-satellite. Hughes has been doing that for years now: https://www.hughesnet.com/. A neighbor of mine had Hughes satellite service 10 years ago. I don't think Hughes has sats in LEO, tho.
Imagine, no bridges leading to the coast from Tehran or elsewhere. Nowhere to charge your iphone because the power plants are smoking ruins. The roads pockmarked with bomb craters, filled with streams of refugees streaming toward Tehran. Very cheap drones chasing anyone who ventures out from the caves. Little robot dogs stationed around the entrances, sniffing the air for radionuclides. A 100 km perimeter expands from the coast, extended as a coalition force rolls forward, flattening town after town, renaming the topography as they go, using the ayatollah's ubiquitous portraits for target practice. Marines sortie with their double rotor helis, from the regime's former air bases, hardened with rip-rap. A drone perimeter beyond the advance, scanning and analysing data streams, engaging whatever is walking, driving or flying without permission. Full spectrum dominance: the old playbook.
Imagine Iran leveling the desalination plants of the Gulf Coast States. It would take years to rebuild them and they could not support their current populations. Not by half. GCS get 60% of their water from desalination. Iran gets 2%. It would take our entire navy to emergency evacuate people from those regions. People start dying pretty quick without water. Those states do NOT have the carrying capacity for their current populations. A refugee migration on a Biblical level. Imagine that.
Can the surviving supreme leader actually believe that continued unrealistic escalations will succeed? I'm more convinced that no one is at the helm of what's left of their regime. Their strategy will backfire when they finally piss off those sitting on the sidelines watching Trump flail like a caught fish. Thousands of Iranians will die, and the regime will fall. The resulting campaign will make the Iraqi freedom campaign look like a skirmish, and Trump will take credit for dealing with the dilemma that was Iran.
Yet, they hold the Strait.
The data explanation was a bit rough, but it’ll pass for the layman. While the network engineer part of me grimaced
Looks like it is either pay Iran or pay Elon………
Crossing the ocean and crossing a gulf are not the same. Anyone can post a couple of boats along two coasts and transmit data. Cables are more convenient, but not truly necessary.
I've been waiting to get Starlink at my Philippine property but they're currently charging a "congestion fee". Too much demand already. Once they get the Starship going regularly and can launch the V3 Starlink satellites, it should improve by an order of magnitude.
How about the reentry of the starlink satellites eventually destroying the ozone layer?
Originally Starlink requires a ground station to operate in a country which is a vulnerable point, since they have upgraded to ISLls (InterSatellite Laser Links) technologies Starlink no longer needs a ground station which can be jammed or destroyed. This truly allows Starlink to technically be deployed anywhere in the world. They are also actively working on anti-jamming technologies making Starlink terminals harder to jam (they can deploy anti-jamming software solutions globally overnight too).
This seems almost last on the list of important things. What should we care about email and Netflix to UAE or Saudi?
Because the same issue is playing out in Europe from Russia, and China surveying cables too. That takes the internet on a trend line from a useful global resource to a restricted domestic network. That's no good for business, trade, the economy...
Things like this might save SpaceX. Elon's numbers for their expected growth are absolute fantasy... unless everyone starts cutting the undersea cables.
Until someone starts shredding satellites. All the debris feeds on itself until you get a Kessler Syndrome. Then it’s, ‘Welcome the the 1950s folks!’
Clever humanity builds and we all benefit. Stupid humanity destroys and we all suffer.
Gee, I wish Kamala was President....we would have none of these issues, and the Iranians would be our buddies, gas would be cheap,and everyone would love America...yesssirree...man I love me some Kamala!
Kamala 2028!
That's why the US keeps control of Diego Garcia
One of the things that I find so extraordinarily palpable absurd is that we have now gone from worrying about Iran becoming a threat maybe one day to making them a THREAT NOW! The absurdity of that is just totally hypocritical and f*cking INSANE! I worked for HP and Cisco for awhile , so I was expecting this yet hoping not; sadly, I may have been right. It's beginning to look like some of those apocalyptic science fiction movies may not be so fiction. Note: a lot of the uber religious types thing armageddon will be good for us.
no one is worried about Iran being a threat right now lol
You know- Peter. ... If Trump had the GUTS ... to Throw-DOWN a NUKE ... (which he doesn't ... 🐝CAWZ heez uhFukn Pussy) ... that WOULD ... just solve a lot of problems ... Straight-Away. And-No ... it would not ... 🐝CAWZ ... all the other "potential problems subsequent" WOULD ... Back the FUCK-OFF ... ... ... (Olthingz🇨🇳) ... Straight-AWAY! ... ... ... Yup. .. it would indeed ... SOLVE! Nope ... 👁️ Nuke-Pussy ... Not at ALL! ... ... ... Peter. 👼
Russia would instantly do the same in Ukraine. Within 24 hours for sure.
Thank you Peter. Enjoy your Italian weekend ... 🫵 ... 👌👍
I would not have thought of this. That is why if I were in Orange Man's shoes, I would not have fired all the smart people in the room who could tell me such things. Too late... :(
Im enjoying the new travel locations peter. Keep em coming. ☺️
As it once was, so shall it ever be, one cannot dismiss the power of the Cable Guy.
Another big miscalculation by those who started this war.....
I don’t think even an abacus was used before hand.