Tehran intends to force major IT companies to comply with local laws, pay licensing fees, and outsource cable maintenance to Iranian firms, threatening to disrupt global data traffic if they do not.

Emboldened by the successful military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has set its sights on a new "hidden artery" of the global economy: the undersea telecommunications cables that carry vast amounts of internet traffic and financial transactions between Europe, Asia, and the Persian Gulf. Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have reported on Tehran's plan to extract revenue from the Strait. According to Iranian military spokesman Ibrahim Zolfaghari, "We will charge for internet cables."

It remains unclear how Tehran will be able to compel IT giants to comply, given that strict US sanctions prohibit them from making any payments to Iran. Experts interviewed by CNN believe the companies may perceive these statements as bravado rather than actual policy. Nevertheless, analysts warn that the attack on the cables could trigger a cascading "digital catastrophe" across several continents, affecting banking systems, military communications, and cloud infrastructure.

Iran cites the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which grants coastal states the right to establish conditions for the laying of cables in their territorial waters, as the legal basis for its claims. It cites Egypt, which earns hundreds of millions of dollars from cables in the Suez Canal, as a precedent, although experts note that, unlike an artificial canal, the Strait of Hormuz is a natural waterway, which changes the legal framework.