Three sanctioned tankers linked to Iran and an Iranian fishing boat were tracked loitering over major undersea cable routes near the Strait of Hormuz in October. Some switched off their tracking transponders and went dark. Maritime intelligence firm Windward says their movements could indicate they were mapping cable routes or preparing to place explosives. Iran has already threatened the cables. On October 23, Reuters reported that Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to attack 7 major internet cables if the United States and Israel resumed strikes. Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar rely entirely on cables passing through the strait for international connectivity. A successful attack would disrupt regional internet access, financial transactions and cloud services. The entire world’s internet would not go dark, but parts of the Middle East could face a serious communications outage.
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