EL7.AI
GeopoliticsMedium•2 November 2026•
5 min read

Iran Threatens to Target 7 Undersea Cables and Military Bases if War Resumes

Key Facts

1An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official said Iran could target 7 major internet cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz if its infrastructure came under attack.
2Less than 1% of international bandwidth capacity passes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to an estimate cited by Reuters.
3Trump has not made a final decision on new strikes against Iran, according to diplomats cited by the Associated Press.
4October was the busiest month for reported attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since the early weeks of the war in March.
5Microsoft plans to invest more than $400 million in undersea and land communications in the Middle East by 2030.

Iran has widened its threats to include undersea communications cables and military bases, as concern grows over a resumption of U.S. and Israeli strikes after the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3. Reuters, citing Iranian officials, reported that Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to target communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel attack it again. It quoted an Iranian official as saying: "If Iran is attacked, there will be no red lines ... from undersea cables to military bases, including covert ones." An official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said Iran could target 7 major internet cables running beneath the Strait of Hormuz if Iranian infrastructure came under attack. The threats add communications and military infrastructure to the risks surrounding an escalation that could extend beyond direct theaters of confrontation.

The Associated Press said the Middle East was preparing for the possibility of a return to full-scale war, amid fears that the United States and Israel could strike Iran after Tuesday’s election. But diplomats told the news agency that Trump had not made a final decision on launching new strikes. U.S. officials, meanwhile, told countries in the region that a new military campaign could last several days and urged them to prepare for the possibility that Iran would target energy facilities and critical infrastructure, the AP reported. Reuters said Iran’s leadership believes any new U.S. campaign would warrant a stronger response than before. The news agency quoted an analyst at the Middle East Institute as saying the threats were intended to deter a resumption of the conflict and pressure Washington by stoking Gulf governments’ and U.S. companies’ concerns about their investments.

Concern also extends to digital communications in the Gulf, although traffic through the Strait of Hormuz accounts for less than 1% of international bandwidth capacity, according to an estimate by a TeleGeography expert cited by Reuters. An analyst at the company said cutting several cables could slow internet services and disrupt financial transactions, e-commerce and cloud computing. The scale of the impact would depend on whether data traffic could be rerouted and alternative capacity was available, the analyst said. Reuters cited Iranian officials as saying they had not explained how or where Tehran would carry out any attack on the cables. But one official said Iran would seek to prevent their repair to prolong communications disruptions, including internet outages. Experts warned that repairs during a war could be complicated by higher insurance costs and delays in permits to enter territorial waters.

Reports about military bases suggest the potential threats could extend to southeastern Europe. Reuters cited Iranian officials as saying forces had studied scenarios for targeting U.S. military facilities in the region, including sites in Bulgaria, while the Financial Times listed Cyprus among the possible locations. The newspaper described Iran’s missile threat to targets in Europe as real but limited, noting that medium-range missiles would struggle to cause significant damage over longer distances. In the Gulf, October was the busiest month for reported attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since the early weeks of the war in March, according to the AP. That places the new threat to digital corridors in an environment where risks to shipping and critical infrastructure are already rising.

Negotiations remain a parallel track to the military escalation. An Iranian delegation left Qatar on Sunday after talks aimed at an agreement to end the war, and a regional official told the AP that a draft proposal had been circulated for comment and a subsequent meeting was under discussion. The announced Iranian proposal calls for the Strait of Hormuz to be fully reopened to shipping within two days, provided Washington meets demands including lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. China is expected to send a special envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early or mid-November, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman cited by the news agency. As the parties await the outcome of the U.S. election, the question of whether strikes will resume remains unresolved, alongside regional diplomatic efforts.

The warnings come in a region that has already seen direct damage to technology-related facilities. Reuters said Iranian strikes hit two Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates in March and damaged infrastructure near a company facility in Bahrain. Microsoft, meanwhile, plans to invest more than $400 million in undersea and land communications in the Middle East by 2030, Reuters reported. The investments underscore the region’s reliance on communications networks, while any potential disruption threatens business, finance and internet services. In the Red Sea, Reuters said, the area could be a bigger target than the Strait of Hormuz, particularly if Iran receives support from its Houthi allies in Yemen. But it reported that Tehran had not publicly announced plans to target cables there.