- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard spokesman has publicly named seven major undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz as potential targets.
- Researchers have identified FALCON and Gulf Bridge International as cables running through the strait or Iranian waters, though the official did not name specific systems.
- Analysts describe the warning as deterrence signalling, and it adds a digital layer to existing energy and shipping risk in the Gulf.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz could be targeted during the ongoing US-Iran conflict. The remarks add a digital infrastructure dimension to a region already defined by oil and shipping risk. For crypto and broader financial markets, the warning highlights how communications networks could become part of geopolitical pressure.
What Happened
IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi publicly flagged seven major undersea cables in the Hormuz area as potential targets. He said the world’s internet and commercial data flows depend on this infrastructure. Iran International and Al Arabiya both reported the statement.
Mohebbi did not identify the systems by name. Cybersecurity researchers, however, have pointed to FALCON and Gulf Bridge International as cables that run through Iranian waters or the strait itself.
The statement was not the first signal of this kind. Earlier in October, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said regional cables, data centres, and AI facilities valued at roughly $2 trillion could fall “within our range” if hostilities resumed. Andreas Krieg of King’s College London characterised the messaging as “fundamentally about deterrence.”
According to the International Cable Protection Committee, five active submarine cable segments cross the chokepoint. No sabotage has been confirmed.
Why It Matters
The exposure is uneven across the Gulf. Iraq is the most vulnerable, since both of its active international submarine cable systems pass directly through the strait and it has almost no alternative routing. Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain face similarly limited redundancy. The UAE is better positioned because most of its cables land at Fujairah, east of the chokepoint. Saudi Arabia sources the bulk of its international bandwidth from its Red Sea coast.
Banking, cloud services, and government communications across the Gulf rely heavily on these links. The AI data-centre expansion under way in the UAE depends on them as well. A disruption in these hubs would therefore carry consequences beyond telecommunications, touching the same energy and market pressures that investors are already monitoring.
Cybersecurity firm inCyber notes that the affected cables carry less than 1% of global international bandwidth. A complete outage would not cause a worldwide blackout. Regional impact, however, could be significant, and that is precisely where a large share of Gulf equity capital and AI infrastructure investment is concentrated.
Market Context
Oil prices already include a risk premium linked to the Strait of Hormuz, and a digital threat adds another source of uncertainty on top of that. Regional equity markets have shown weakness: Saudi Arabia’s TASI index is down roughly 13% over the past six months, and Qatar’s index sits around 25% below its cycle highs.
For crypto, the picture is more nuanced. CoinGape’s earlier reporting indicates that Bitcoin has rebounded on de-escalation hopes and has held above key levels even during kinetic strikes. Reopening talks over the strait remain active, so any new escalation, whether digital or physical, could introduce a fresh risk-off variable for digital assets.
Direct effects on the crypto network appear limited. Regional connectivity problems could affect local on-ramps and fintech settlement rails in the Gulf. Bitcoin, however, is a globally distributed network, and disruption to Hormuz cables would not impair its operation in itself.
What to Watch Next
Market participants will be following several developments:
- Further statements from IRGC officials, including any clarification of which cables are included in the seven-cable list.
- Progress on the seven-day Hormuz reopening proposals and whether talks move toward a durable arrangement.
- Shipping and tanker traffic data through the strait, along with oil price movements.
- Performance of Gulf equity indices, particularly in markets with heavy exposure to energy and technology.
- Bitcoin’s reaction to changes in global risk appetite as the conflict develops.
The explicit naming of undersea cables expands the conflict’s scope beyond oil, shipping, and air strikes. For investors, it adds another layer of geopolitical risk to Gulf assets, energy infrastructure, and the technology build-out that Gulf sovereign wealth has funded for years. Readers should treat the situation as an evolving one, since no confirmed attack has occurred and official signalling can change quickly.
Source: original report