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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned it would unveil “new targets” and “new weapons,” drawing attention to seven undersea internet cables running beneath the Strait of Hormuz.
IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi made the remarks on October 19 during a ceremony at Tehran’s Sacred Defense Museum, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.
“Seven major internet cables run beneath the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, claiming they carry all internet and commercial data traffic.
“We just want them to know that new targets will be unveiled. New weapons will be unveiled,” he added.
Mohebi did not explicitly say the cables would be attacked. However, his remarks followed a more direct warning earlier this month from Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who said Tehran could target undersea communications cables, data centers and artificial intelligence facilities linked to the United States if hostilities resumed.
“We have not yet included these assets among our targets,” Rezaei told Iranian state broadcaster Press TV, warning that the infrastructure could be destroyed in a renewed conflict.
The warnings came amid a sharp increase in attacks on commercial shipping in and around the strait. Reuters reported last week, citing Iranian officials and maritime security data, that the Islamic Republic had stepped up attacks on vessels and expanded operations beyond the strait into the Gulf of Oman and waters off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
In a statement issued on October 20, the IRGC said two oil tankers had caught fire and been halted after striking mines laid by its naval unit in an unauthorized passage south of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Corps warned that vessels crossing the mined route would face destruction and said continued U.S. “mischief” would force oil companies to “pay a heavier price.”
The Guardian reported a day earlier that at least 15 container ships had been attacked in the strait over the previous 10 days, with vessels struck by drones, mines and rocket-propelled grenades.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center recorded 12 vessel attacks in the seven days through October 16, while shipping transits remained about 70% below prewar levels.
The latest warnings from Iran raise the prospect that the conflict could reach far beyond ships and oil supplies. Damage to the undersea cables could disrupt internet access and financial services across Gulf countries, bringing the economic fallout of the war into businesses and homes far from the fighting.
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