Iranian media pushing for regime to sever international undersea fiber-optic cables in Hormuz

The managing editor of the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper insisted that disrupting or cutting off the internet cables was a “necessary measure” to respond to the “crimes of America."

The Islamic regime has come under increasing pressure from hardline media outlets and figures to escalate the conflict by severing the international fiber-optic cables running beneath the Strait of Hormuz and the Arab Gulf.

Hossein Shariatmadari, the managing editor of the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper, insisted that disrupting or cutting off the internet cables was a “necessary measure” to respond to the “crimes of America and its wicked allies.”

“Is it not our indisputable right, in order to bring these sources of evil to their knees and cut off their lifeline, to prevent internet cables from passing through the depths of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz?” Shariatmadari wrote. “This necessary measure could be carried out by seriously disrupting the cables’ operation or even cutting them.”

Though he admitted that such an action would violate international law and add to the list of countries suffering from Iranian actions who were not directly involved in the war, he insisted that their failure to “rise up” against the United States made such actions acceptable.

IRGC and state-affiliated media have frequently called on Iran to exploit the cables. The IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency proposed forcing countries to pay fees for the use of the cables, similar to the strategy Iran has attempted to employ in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Wall Street Journal also reported in mid-August that the IRGC had developed plans for “further escalation,” including plans to sabotage the cables.

Iran could threaten global economy by targeting cables

Military historian Dr. Lynette Nusbacher, a former British Army intelligence officer and former devil’s advocate to Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee, told The Jerusalem Post that the cables are vital to the global economy, especially China’s.

Nusbacher said that Iran had not needed to “play that card” because it used the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point against the global economy. However, American officials have repeatedly claimed that new pipelines in the region would reduce Hormuz’s strategic importance, and the Institute for the Study of War noted that American attacks had left Iran’s ability to control the strait significantly degraded.

An unnamed American source told Saudi-based Al Arabiya on Wednesday that CENTCOM’s Tuesday night strikes were a preemptive response to Iranian attacks on the undersea communications cables. If true, the Institute for the Study of War noted that it could indicate Iran is considering expanding its “coercive activity.”